[caption id="attachment_217530" align="alignleft" width="320"]
A female Amur falcon. (Source: Wikipedia)[/caption]
Our Correspondent
Imphal, Nov. 11 (EMN): One of the two Amur falcons tagged satellite with transmitters has been killed by unknown persons at Kebuching area bordering Tamenglong and Noney district, according to Manipur Forest and Environment Minister Th Shyamkumar.
The bird was named ‘Manipur.’ Saddened over the incident, Shyamkumar told reporters that cancellation of gun licence would be discussed in the Cabinet meet soon.
A team of scientists had captured five Amur falcons using canopy mist-nets at a community forests area of Chiuluan village along the Barak River in Tamenglong district recently. After assessment, two of the fittest birds were attached with GPS satellite transmitters.
The male bird was named ‘Manipur’ while the female was called ‘Tamenglong.’ The information was shared by forest officials to the villagers of Tamenglong during the ‘4th Amur Falcon Festival’ held at the district headquarters on Nov. 5.
On Nov. 8, the Tamenglong district administration had issued an order strictly prohibiting use of air guns in the district.
Shyamkumar termed the hunting incident as very unfortunate and shocking during a time when experts are trying to save and monitor the movements of the migratory bird. He appealed to stop the killing.
He appealed to the people of Manipur to help save the Amur falcon and other wildlife.
Meanwhile on the movements of ‘Tamenglong’, the DFO of Tamenglong, Arun RS said more teams from the Forest department have rushed to the Irang river area after its location was track. The team will seek to spread awareness among the villagers and prevent the bird from being killed.
He said the Forest department, district administration, Police, other departments and local leaders are collaborating to monitor and protect the Amur falcons in all the roosting sites.
According to Dr. Suresh Kumar, senior scientist at Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun, each satellite equipment cost INR 1.5 lakh and additional INR 1 lakh to retrieve the data of the journey of the birds.
Amur falcons—a pigeon sized long-distance migratory birds—arrives in Manipur and Nagaland on their south-bound migration during October from their breeding grounds in northern China, eastern Mongolia and far east Russia en-route to their wintering grounds in South Africa. The one-way journey from their breeding to wintering grounds via India is about 20,000 km and the birds do this twice a year.
Amur falcons spend three to four weeks in many parts of Manipur to build fat reserves by foraging on termites that emerge during this time so that they can make a five to six days non-stop flight across the Peninsular India and then make a sea crossing over the Arabian Sea to their next stopover site in Somalia.
