After travelling across 23 countries and covering nearly 20,000 km, two satellite-tagged Amur falcons, Apapang and Alang, have returned to Manipur, completing a round-trip migration that included a six-day, non-stop flight of nearly 6,000 km between northeast India and Somalia in Africa, Union environment ministry officials said on Friday.
Officials at the Union environment ministry said the Amur falcon tracking project began in 2013, initially in Nagaland, as a conservation effort to address the issue of hunting at stopover sites in northeast India. Ramesh Pandey, additional director general of forests at the environment ministry, said that, with the active participation of local people, the project provides unique insights into the species, particularly their non-stop, long-distance flights of nearly 6,000 km in six days from northeast India to Somalia. “With the falcons returning back a year later and few making round-trip journeys multiple times to the stopover sites in Nagaland, this created the desired awareness among local people and a sense of ownership began.
“The two Amur falcons are expected to now make a two to three week stopover at select sites in the beautiful mountainous tracts of Tamenglong district in Manipur, where local people now eagerly wait for their return year after year and protect the falcons,” environment minister Bhupender Yadav said in a post on X on Friday. This also resulted in hunters turning protectors, leading to complete protection of this migratory falcon,” he said.
