A Million Amur Falcons Make Telangana Part Of Their Flight Plan

HYDERABAD: As the celebrations led by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy of a Congress victory in the Jubilee Hills bypoll were heading for a wind down on the evening of November 14, and the BRS was likely licking its wounds after its loss in the bypoll, an unnoticed little miracle, all of around 200 grammes, or may be a even little less, and likely a bit tired, landed in a mango orchard near the Husnabad lake in Revanth Reddy’s Kodangal constituency.

There was none to see, or take note of Alang, a young female Amur Falcon — with a micro tracker on its back emitting signals tracked by Argos satellite constellation — taking a break from a long flight, all the way from Nagaland and Manipur and heading towards the Horn of Africa region of Somalia.

Alang, along with two more Amur Falcons, tagged with similar trackers, were on Wednesday, reported to have reached the African landmass. “All three falcons that were tagged this year, Alang, Apapang a male, and Ahu, a female, crossed the Arabian Sea and have reached Africa and will now head towards the hilly forested tracts of southern Somalia along the Kenyan border,” Dr F. Suresh Kumar, senior scientist at the Wildlife Institute of India told Deccan Chronicle.

Incidentally, all three, Alang, Apapang, and Ahu flew over Telangana along with tens of thousands of other Amur Falcons as part of the bird’s annual migration from the cold reaches in northern China, Mongolia and eastern Russia.

“It’s hard to count just how many, but we estimate that around a million of these falcons make this annual journey. Along stopped at a mango orchard just to the west of Husnabad lake, not very far from the Karnataka border. It arrived at 6.30 p.m. The birds typically fly non-stop once they leave their feeding grounds in Nagaland where they time their arrival with a population explosion of winged termites on which they feed and build the reserves for the second leg of their migration. Though the birds fly non-stop once leaving Nagaland, it is not uncommon to find some of them taking a break,” Suresh, who has been studying Amur falcons for over a decade, said.

And like any good bird, Alang was up at the crack of dawn on November 15, took off and reached Africa on November 18. “Typically, they take five to six days to cross the Indian sub-continent, fly over the Arabian Sea before reaching Africa,” Suresh said.

Amur Falcons normally fly at 40-45 km per hour during their long migration flights covering some 17,000 km or more one way. But the birds also appear to know something about meteorology that helps them make the arduous flight overland and over sea a little easier. They begin flying from Nagaland, take a south-western route crossing over the Indian peninsula and as they do, they take advantage of winds associated with the Northeast monsoon pushing southwards. These tail winds give a 20 to 25kmph boost to the Amur Falcons as they fly, in flocks of tens of thousands over the Indian landmass.

Whether tagged for tracking or not, every Amur Falcon in the world, comes to India in October, and by mid-November reaches Africa where they stay put till around April when they begin their flight backs to their breeding grounds in northern Asia. At that time, they use the Westerlies that begin forming over Africa that help them in their flight flying over the Arabian peninsula, and take a route to the west of the Himalayas to reach their breeding grounds sometime in May.

“In all, the Amur Falcons cross 24 countries on their annual migration journey that could be anywhere between 34,000 km to 40,000 km,” Suresh said.

And this year, all three that were tagged chose to fly over Telangana, with one picking a spot barely a few km from the Telangana Chief Minster’s constituency headquarters, to spend a night. Incidentally, when the tracking of the Amur Falcons was first taken up in 2018, then too two of three falcons that were tagged, flew over Telangana.

The Amur Falcons story

Hunted in tens of thousands till 2013 in Nagaland,

Manipur and other Northeastern states

Conservation efforts turned hunters into protectors

Migration starts from their breeding ground in Mongolia, China, Russia

Fly around 17,000 to 18,000 km, or even longer one way

A one month stop over in Northeast for feeding in October/November

Take five to six days to reach Africa

Return journey begins sometime in April

Around a million birds make this annual journey