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Our Correspondent
Imphal, Nov. 23 (EMN): All the Amur falcons (Falcon amurensis) roosting in Manipur’s Tamenglong district have left the state for their onward sojourn to the African continent, divisional Forest officer of Tamenglong wrote in its official Facebook page.
It also informed that the two Amur falcons ‘Chiulon’ and ‘Irang,’ which were radio-tagged in Manipur last year as part of continuing migratory birds study in collaboration with Wildlife Institute of India (WII), are still active and safe. “They are in Somalia,” the post said. Last week confirming the news, Union Forest and Environment minister Prakash Javadekar had also tweeted, “After spending close to 20 days in Manipur and adjoining areas the two satellite-tagged Amur Falcons -- Chiulon and Irang -- sent out on their second year migration on Nov. 11 and the 12th. “They have now arrived in Somalia covering 5700 km and 5400 km in five and half days nonstop flight,” the Union Minister said. ‘Chiulon,’ named after a village in Manipur’s Tamenglong district, left from Manipur while ‘Irang,’ named after a river, left from Bangladesh border for their second migration, the officials of WII, Dehradun said.
A five-member WII team conducted satellite radio tagging programme in Manipur and so far, have radio-tagged five Amur falcons including Chiulon and Irang at Puching village on October 31 and November 1 with the support of locals.
Thousands of Amur falcons spend their summers at their breeding grounds in northern China migrate to their wintering grounds in South Africa. On the way, they stop in north-eastern states particularly in Nagaland and Manipur in October and leave the region in November after having enough food for their non-stop flight to African countries over Arabian Sea.
The radio-tagging programme started in Manipur last year as part of projects to study the flight route of these long-distance migratory birds and environmental patterns along the route.
On hearing Amur falcons’ arrival and it’s annual roosting reports, Manipur Governor Dr. Najma Heptulla’s daughter Asma Heptulla had also visited the roosting sites of Amur falcons in Tamenglong district last week.