Amur falcon

Guwahati, Oct. 23: Nearly 100 Amur falcons have been reported killed in the last couple of days at Umrangsu in Dima Hasao district.

This has happened at a time that a movement was slowly but steadily taking shape in and around Umrangsu to protect Amur falcons, the migratory birds which visit the area every year during the months of October and November.

A source said a team of forest department and Blue Hills Society, a local non-governmental organisation, which is implementing a rapid action project of the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) raided the place yesterday and found eight carcasses. The village has been identified as Tumbung.

“There were children and adults in that area. When we arrived, the elders fled and the children were left alone. There were catapults in the area which is used to kill the Amur falcons,” the source said.

The children were let off after being rebuked.

The additional principal chief conservator of forests, Dima Hasao, Bikash Brahma, said the situation is being monitored.

“We have started awareness meetings and one hopes that the killings will come down,” Brahma told The Telegraph.

A large number of Amur falcons have arrived in the area in the last few days, bringing joy to conservationists.

The Amur falcon (Falco Amurensis) is a small raptor of the falcon family.

The Blue Hills Society has started a “Save Kalengmaha, Save dao pana” (Amur falcon in local dialect) campaign to sensitise the villagers on the importance of conservation of Amur falcons visiting Umrangsu.

In Nagaland, a welcome programme was organised by the forest department in honour of the falcons on October 1, at Pangti village, with support from Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and the district administration. Nagaland is already knowns as the “falcon capital of the world” because of focused and relentless awareness in the last one year, which has yielded success.

Nagaland forest minister Nicky Kire had inaugurated two watch towers — one constructed by the state forest department and the other by Nagaland Bamboo Mission — to witness the phenomenon of mass migration of these birds. The minister also distributed the equipment given by WTI to the protection squads constituted in the roosting area.

Zuthunglo Patton, DFO, Doyang, said against the general perception of Naga people being compulsive hunters, the success of Amur falcon conservation has put Nagaland on the global map. The sheer number of the Amur falcon population here has made it the “falcon capital of the world”.