[caption id="attachment_169217" align="aligncenter" width="565"]
A file picture of amur falcons arriving to roost at Pangti village in Wokha district. [/caption]
Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, Oct. 16: The first flock of amur falcons, labelled by the newspapers as the state’s annual ‘winged-guests’, have started to arrive in Nagaland this year even as few sightings were reported last week.
Speaking to
Eastern Mirror on Tuesday, the Wildlife Warden in Dimapur, Caroline K Angami said that few sightings of the migratory birds were reported from Mbeiki (Barak) in Peren on Oct. 9.
The district forest officer of Wokha, Zuthunglo Patton also confirmed that few hundred were sighted last week while adding that the actual migration will take place in the first week of November.
Annually, the Amur Falcon Conservation Week is conducted in Wokha from Nov. 8 till 10th as it is the peak migration period and best for undertaking outdoor activities. Moreover, it coincides with the premier festival of the Lotha’s, Tokhu Emong celebrated in the first week of November.
The falcons spend about one month in Nagaland every autumn where they feast on insects to gain fitness for their long arduous journey of 22,000 km to Africa. A team of international ornithologists had declared Nagaland as the ‘Falcon capital of the world’ in 2013.
Villagers threaten not to protect falcons
Despite being the ‘falcon capital,’ the Amur Falcon Roosting Area Union (AFRAU) Pangti has threatened to abandon its activities of protecting the bird if the government fails to redress their complaints.
The union has been demanding implementation of road connectivity to the Amur Falcon Observation Area under Swadesh Darshan Scheme 2016. A representation to this effect was submitted to the authorities on Sep. 10, 2018, demanding issue of work order to the deserving local contractor to execute the work before the arrival of the birds.
A statement from the union stated that a general meeting was held on Oct. 7 at Pangti village, where it resolved to abandon its protection activities if the government fails to fulfil its demand ‘even after the lapse of three seasons.’
One of the union’s leaders told
Eastern Mirror that it has been pressurising the government since 2016. He said that a secretary of Tourism department had called him and gave verbal assurance concerning the work order.
“We do not accept verbal assurance this time; it should be a written assurance. If written statement arrives, we will continue protecting the birds. If not, we will give up protecting it,” he said while reminding that the deadline was till the second week of Oct.
Several attempts to contact the Tourism department proved fruitless.
