Scientists to tag 5 more Amur falcons in Manipur

Our Correspondent

Imphal, Sep 23 (EMN): After the unfortunate incident of losing contact with a satellite-tagged female Amur falcons in December last year, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) scientists in collaboration with Manipur Forest department are planning to tag five more Amur falcons with satellite radio transmitters next month.

“This time we will tag five falcons from Tamenglong district of Manipur in mid-October this year,” said WII scientist Dr. Suresh Kumar when contacted. “A team from WII will be arriving in Manipur next month.”

Two Amur falcons: Tamenglong, a female falcon and Manipur, a male falcon, were satellite radio tagged by WII scientists and Manipur Forest officials in association with foreign experts on November 4, 2018, as part of one of the projects to study the flight route of these long-distance migratory birds, and environmental patterns along the route.

But Manipur was found dead four days later at Keibu Ching area in Tamenglong district.

Tamenglong started her non-stop migration on November 9 and reached Somalia after non-stop five days flight covering thousands of kilometre in the third week of November last year. But unfortunately she has lost contact after reaching Zambia after December 14 last year.

However Longleng, another female Amur falcon named after Nagaland’s district, radio-tagged along with four other falcons in the first week of November 2016, which returned to the Indian sub-continent in the first week of May after completing her winter sojourn covering thousands of kilometres in African countries, had reached her breeding area in northern China on May 25.

“Now Longleng is on her way (to northeast India), so we’re hoping that we could tag one of her companions once they reach Tamenglong,” said Kumar who has tagged 10 birds since 2013. “Amur falcon tagging programme is important because it gives awareness to the masses about the bird, forest and its biodiversity.”

Stating that local people take pride not only in protecting the falcons but also the important species in the forest and the rich biodiversity, he said: “We should understand why this unique bird is regularly visiting Manipur and Nagaland rather than other places. If we cut the forest, they’ll not come because they’re biological indicators for the health of forest.”

The falcons spend their summers at their breeding grounds in southeast Russia and northeast China. They migrate to their wintering grounds in South Africa, from where they start their return journey in April-May through Afghanistan and East Asia, undertaking a yearly journey of about 20,000 km.

In their journey, these pigeon-sized birds arrive in large numbers during October in Nagaland and Manipur besides a few places in northeast India. They leave the region in November after having enough food for their non-stop flight to Africa where they spend their winters.