Radio-tagged Amur Falcon Apapang reaches eastern Myanmar after a 4,750 km non-stop flight from Somalia.
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IMPHAL — A male Amur Falcon (Falco amurensis) named Apapang, radio-tagged in Manipur’s Tamenglong district, has reached eastern Myanmar after making a non-stop flight of 4,750 km from Somalia to central India in 95 hours, officials said.
According to reports, the migratory bird crossed the Arabian Sea without stopping from Somalia to India on May 5.
Confirming this on Sunday, Dr. Suresh Kumar of the Wildlife Institute of India, who has been monitoring the bird's migratory route, said that Apapang has reached eastern Myanmar.
Three satellite-tagged Amur Falcons named Apapang, Ahu and Alang, after a roosting site and the Barak and Irang rivers in Tamenglong district, had started their migratory journey soon after being radio-tagged with satellite transmitters at Chiuluan village in Tamenglong district on November 11, 2025.
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Apapang is an adult male falcon while Ahu and Alang are females.
It may be recalled that Apapang had earlier made a non-stop flight of 6,100 km to Kenya in just under a week, crossing the Arabian Sea during its onward migratory journey in November 2025.
Officials said that both Ahu and Alang are yet to start their non-stop flight from Somalia.
The radio-tagging programme of the Amur Falcon was undertaken by the Tamenglong forest division for the first time since November 2018 in the hill district as part of wildlife conservation efforts.
The Amur Falcons, locally known as Akhuaipuina (Taomuanpui), are protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and are included under Schedule I.
The birds spend their summers at breeding grounds in southeast Russia and northeast China.
They migrate to their wintering grounds in South Africa, from where they begin their return journey in April-May through Afghanistan and East Asia, undertaking a yearly journey of about 20,000 km.