MISTNET April June 2014 Amur Falcon Special

EditorAsad R. Rahmani, Director, BNHS

DesignGopi Naidu

LayoutAbhijit Malekar, Noor Khan

Consultant EditorGayatri W. Ugra

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Email: [email protected]

BirdLife International is a global partnershipof conservation organisations, representedin over 100 countries, working for thediversity of all life through the conservationof birds and their habitats.

BirdLife InternationalWellbrook Court, Girton Road

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This Newsletter is supported by theRSPB

(For private circulation only)

Cover: Amur FalconFalco amurensis

by M.N. Srinivasa Raju

Our Mission

Conservation of nature, primarily biologicaldiversity, through action, based on research,

education and public awareness.

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Views expressed by the contributors in MISTNETare not necessarily those of the IBCN/BNHS.

www.rspb.org.uk

Assistant EditorRaju Kasambe, Project Manager, IBA-IBCN

CONTENTS

Conservation initiatives by the

Nagaland Forest Department for

the migratory Amur Falcon4

Tracking the incredible journey of

a small raptor

Amur Falcon from India14

Amur Falcon Conservation in

Nagaland19

Working together to

face a crisis22

Doyang Reservoir: A

potential IBA in Nagaland24

— Zuthunglo Patton, IFS andKamdi Hemant Bhaskar, IFS

— R. Suresh Kumar

— Steve Odyuo

— Neha Sinha

— Raju Kasambe

E D I T O R I A L

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From One Hundred Thousand to Zero

India is a land of contradictions. Whatever is true in one place, the opposite is true in another.For example, take wildlife protection and hunting. While in some states such as Gujarat, Rajasthan,Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu, you will find birds strictly protected even inside crowded

cities and villages, in Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh, on the other hand, even thetiniest bird is killed for the pot or simply for fun. While you can feed gulls and ducks in Jamnagar townand enjoy the beauty of flamingos inside Porbandar town, in Arunachal Pradesh or Nagaland you can gofor miles inside forest without seeing a single bird. The type of welcome given to Spot-billed Pelican andPainted Stork by villagers in Kokkarebellur in Karnataka is rarely seen in some states.

In India wheels turn slowly, and for every inaction there is an excuse. However, when the governmentwants to do something, it is done on a grand scale. Our democratic elections are the biggest in the world,and largely happen peacefully. Every 12 years, we hold the largest human congregation in the world – theKumbh Mela in Allahabad, where planning and management are an example for other countries to emulate.We have successfully eradicated polio in a population of 1.3 billion, while our western neighbour is stillstruggling to combat this dreadful disease. To these examples, I would add the successful prevention ofpoaching of Amur Falcons in 2013 by the Government of Nagaland and several NGOs.

Just after the very successful Conference of the Parties (COP) of Convention of Biological Diversity(CBD) at Hyderabad in October 2012, the world was shocked to see gory pictures of the trapping andtrade of thousands of Amur Falcon in Nagaland, sent by Mr. Ramki Srinivasan, founder of ConservationIndia. As soon as I got the pictures, I showed them to the then Minister for Environment and Forests,Mrs. Jayanthi Natarajan, who immediately took action and wrote to the Government of Nagaland to takesteps to stop this massacre. Meanwhile, the pictures went viral and almost every major newspaper inIndia and the world covered the news. In nearly 40 years of my career in wildlife, and 17 years as Directorof BNHS, I have never received as many queries as I did in the case of Amur Falcon poaching. Such wasthe outrage.

We were told that not much could be done, as hunting is a tradition in Nagaland. However, the ForestDepartment swung into action and tried to stop the trapping which, anyway, is against the law of theland. By the time strict action could be taken, the birds had left for their onward migration. I will not gointo the details of Amur Falcon hunting and migration, as you will read all that in this special issue, but Imust acknowledge the tremendous work done by the Nagaland Forest Department in the year 2013, withthe help of NGOs and local people. The role of BirdLife International and Royal Society for the Protectionof Birds in raising awareness and generating funds is also enormous.

As I said in the beginning, if the government wants to do something, there is no stopping it. TheNagaland Government was ready in 2013 to make sure that poaching of Amur Falcon was stopped. TheForest Department deployed two young forest officers to ensure that a conservation education programmewas implemented, people and administrative support were in place, and poachers were warned when thebirds arrived. Reputed NGOs were also roped in. Many people were skeptical, believing that poachingcould not be stopped (although it may be reduced) as hunting is ingrained in the minds of Nagas, butwhen you have people’s power and administrative support, anything can be done. From more than onehundred thousand killed in 2012 to zero killing in Pangti village in 2013 was no mean achievement. Sucha dramatic change has never happened anywhere else in the world in such a short time. For the last 30years, conservationists in our neighbouring country are struggling to stop the massacre of HoubaraBustard by Arab sheikhs in the name of “Arab tradition”, the massacre of small song birds has notstopped in the so-called modern countries like Malta, Greece, and Italy, despite various educationalcampaigns and international protests, and while our northern neighbour has become a black hole ofwildlife products from the world as “TCM cannot be stopped due to deep tradition”, we have shown thateven the oldest tradition if it has no place in the modern world can be stopped.

Admittedly, it is premature to say that all hunting of birds and animals will be stopped in Nagaland, buta beginning has been made on which to build up a larger attitudinal change in our Naga friends. Thepeople of Pangti and Wokha and the Nagaland Forest Department have shown us the path, for which wehave to thank them.

Asad R. Rahmani

M O N I T O R I N G F O R C O N S E R V A T I O N

Nagaland Forest Departmentfor the migratory Amur FalconNagaland Forest Department

for the migratory Amur Falcon

Conservation initiatives by theConservation initiatives by theA

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Situated in the extreme north-eastern part of India,Nagaland has a geographicalarea of 16,579 sq. km with a

forest cover of 80.33% (SFR 2011). Itborders the states of Assam to the west,Arunachal Pradesh and part of Assamto the north, Myanmar to the east, andManipur to the south.

Physiographically, Nagaland ispredominantly hilly and mountainous,and is covered by a rich and variedassemblage of floral and faunal diversity.It is a part of the Indo-Malayan globalbiodiversity hotspot and the EasternHimalaya Endemic Bird Area, indicativeof the region’s rich biological wealth.

Nagaland is distinctive in its systemof property ownership wherein 88.30%of the forests are either individual or

community owned, and only 11.70% areunder the ownership of the StateGovernment. Moreover, specialprovisions have been attributed to thestate of Nagaland by Article 371A ofthe Indian Constitution. This articleguarantees that no Act of Parliament inrespect of religious or social practicesof the Nagas, Naga customary law andprocedure, administration of civil andcriminal justice involving decisionsaccording to Naga customary law,ownership and transfer of land and itsresources, shall apply to the State ofNagaland unless the LegislativeAssembly of Nagaland by a resolutionso decides.

About 90% of the population ofNagaland is tribal. The predominantoccupation is agriculture, with over 85%of the population directly dependent onit. Till the 19th century, the Nagas liveda life centred around hunting, gathering,and subsistence agriculture. Nagas areknown for their traditional head-huntingpractices, they are fearless and brave

warriors, and love wild meat. Huntingby means of snares or traps, catapults,and airguns is a way of life for them.The ‘insurgency’ or undergroundresistance movement over the last fewdecades, and the occupation by thedefence forces are believed to have ledto a major influx of firearms, transforminglow-level traditional hunting into amuch more destructive practice.

Apart from being known as the Landof Festivals, Nagaland was recentlydeclared as the Falcon Capital of theWorld by the Raptors MoU of theConvention on Migratory Species(CMS) because a staggering number ofAmur Falcon visit this land duringOctober and November every year.

THE GREAT MIGRATIONAround October-November, winter

sets in over the northern hemisphereand temperature falls below freezingpoint. Water freezes over and variouslife forms go into hibernation. Survivalbecomes a concern for non-hibernating

Text by: Zuthunglo Patton, IFSandKamdi Hemant Bhaskar, IFS

Passage migration of Amur Falcon through Nagaland and other states is one of the most spectacular sights in the world

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MISTNET Vol. 15 No. 2 April-June 20146

birds like the Amur Falcon, hence theyadopt a different but difficult strategyfor survival. They undertake an epicmarathon migration covering a distanceof around 22,000 km during their onwardand backward elliptical journey. This isone of the longest migratory routescovered by any bird. They go tosouthern African countries, in anotherhemisphere where summer sets in at thattime. Life is much more comfortable inthe warmer and insect-abundantsavannah.

While undertaking this long journey,their fat reserves get depleted. Toreplenish these reserves, they stop atseveral places in the north-eastern partof India, like Habang in Assam, inMizoram, and Tamenglong in Manipur.But the primary stopover roosting siteslike Wokha, Longleng, Peren, Dimapur,Phek, Zunheboto, and Mokokchung arein Nagaland. Doyang Catchment Areain Wokha district is the principalroosting site and is of extraordinarysignificance because of the countlessnumber of birds roosting there. NickWilliams, the Program Co-ordinator ofRaptors MoU of the Convention on

Development of Doyang Reservoir has possibly created conducive conditions for congregation of millions of Amur Falcon (below)

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Migratory Species, put the number ofbirds at more than a million after carryingout repeated random sample countingof the falcons as they arrived at the twomain roosting sites. The globalpopulation estimate, till date, puts it ata number much below this.

DOYANG CATCHMENT AREABefore talking about the

conservation initiatives, it is imperativeto understand the socio-dynamics ofthe region where the Amurs come androost in huge numbers. Doyang is oneof the most important rivers ofNagaland. The Doyang Hydro-ElectricProject (DHEP) began in the year 2000with a capacity of 75 megawatts, with atotal catchment area of 260,600 ha whichis entirely in community lands. Twenty-two villages are located within theimmediate catchment area of the dam.So far, 2,405.20 ha of land have beensubmerged (521 ha forest land, 125.4 ha

Killing of thousands of Amur Falcon documented in 2012 (above and below) was stopped by the Nagaland Forest Department in 2013

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terrace fields, 30 ha orchards, 55 ha non-agricultural lands, and 1,673.8 ha jhumland).

Out of the 22 affected villages, 11are seriously affected; their villageroads and connectivity have beenaffected, their jhum land, forest land,and other areas where they harvestedfood and other requirements havebecome inaccessible. Erosion of theland is also a major problem and paddycultivation has been curtailed.

Of these villages, three are mostimportant in terms of Amur Falconconservation, namely Pangti, Sungro,and Ashaa. These are the villages onwhose lands the Amurs roost in hugenumbers.

Socio-economics: Pangti village isthe biggest of these three, consistingof more than 1,000 households, whileAshaa is the smallest with a fewhouseholds. The people are mostlydependent on agriculture and fishing,

with only a few people in governmentservice. Also, there are many educatedbut unemployed people who have nooption but to stay in the villages andtake up farming or fishing.

Jhum (slash and burn) cultivation ispractised by the people there. As aresult of huge chunks of their fertilelands being submerged by the DHEP,the villagers now cultivate steep slopeswhere labour is great but yield is low.Fishing in the Doyang Reservoir isanother source of income for thevillagers, but poor road connectivity isa major hindrance and the people haveto struggle to bring their produce to themarkets.

Human-Elephant conflict: Anotherbone of contention for the locals is thepresence of herds of elephants whichcause large-scale destruction ofstanding crops. Every year they sufferhuge losses and are unable to makeends meet. Due to habitat fragmentation,the elephants are now trapped inbetween and cannot move away tothicker and denser forests away fromhuman habitations. Moreover, crops of

Personal appeal by the Nagaland Chief Minister and commitment of the Forest Department, along with the support of local peopleand NGOs, helped to stop the killing of Amur Falcon

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Forest Department officials with poster on saving Amur Falcon

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sugar cane and banana which grow wellin these parts serve as a major attractionto these pachyderms, leading to incidentsof human death caused by elephants.

LARGE-SCALE HARVEST OFAMUR FALCONS

Given the poor socio-economicconditions of the people as describedabove, it comes as no surprise that acommunity that is so intricately linkedto hunting by tradition would resort tolarge-scale harvesting of Amurs as aneasy way out. Apart from their fertile landsbeing inundated and cultivation beingpushed to tougher and steeper areas, theelephants’ presence poses aninsurmountable problem to the villagers.Moreover, the villagers of Pangti say,there is less fish catch during the seasonthat Amurs visit Nagaland. Due to thesevarious reasons, the people have neitherthe means of earning to pay for theirchildren’s education nor to meet theexpenditure for their festival TokhuEmong which is celebrated on November7 every year, or for Christmascelebrations. As far as the villagers wereconcerned, these Amurs were mannafrom heaven, because they came at a timewhen there seemed to be no other wayout for the villagers.

SCENARIO IN THE YEAR 2012 ANDEARLIER

In 2012, a Bangalore-based NGO,Conservation India, came out with areport of mass killing of Amur Falconsin the Doyang catchment area, mostlyin Pangti village. This report wasacknowledged by reputed print andelectronic media at the national andinternational levels. It served to drawthe attention of the Central and Stategovernments and conservationists allacross the continent, but owing to thesocio-economic circumstances of theregion, it received a mixed response.However, it succeeded in acceleratingthe conservation movement inNagaland.

Posters and government circulars to stop the killing were placed at various spots,even roadside eateries (above) in the whole state.

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In Wokha, the Forest Departmentdeployed frontline staff at the roostingsites and market areas to control thetrapping, killing, and sale of the birds.Traps/nets used for capturing the birdswere seized. The captured birds werealso seized and those which were stillalive were set free while the unfortunateones were disposed of by burning.

All the other local law enforcementagencies such as village councils, Policeand District Administration were alertedfor further action to stop any recurrence.A Sub-Committee consisting of all the

Amur Falcon bearing territorial DivisionalForest Officers (DFOs) and WildlifeWarden was constituted to monitor andsupervise the situation at the field level.

SCENARIO IN 2013 TILL DATE:The Nagaland Forest Department

reviewed the issue very seriously. In2013, efforts were shifted from Kanglatu(Mokokchung district) to Doyang(Wokha district), following the shift ofthe Amurs’ roosting site to Doyang.Prior to this, the Amurs faced similarproblems in Kanglatu, but responding

to the call of conservation, thecommunity came forward and Kanglatubecame a successful CommunityBiodiversity Reserve and huntingbecame history.

The year 2013 witnessed betterstrategies and intensified efforts. TheForest Department moved ahead witha multi-pronged strategy of awarenesscreation, strict enforcement, andalternative livelihood opportunities.Mr. Shitiri, Chairman, Pangti VillageCouncil and the council members led thecommunity participation movement forconservation. He strongly withstoodvehement opposition from differentsections of his own community. Pangti,Sungro, and Ashaa Village Councilssigned a memorandum of understanding(MoU) with NGOs, i.e., Natural Nagasand Wildlife Trust of India to provide asafe passage to the Amur Falcons. WTIalso has an MoU with the ForestDepartment for biodiversity conserva-tion in Nagaland.

Awareness: Owing to the dynamicsof social life in the villages, various kindsof awareness stratagems were adoptedby the Forest Department. Differentgroups of people had to be addresseddifferently at different times.

In preparation of the arrival of thesemagnificent birds, the Forest Departmentsounded a state-level alert and began towork stealthily, well in advance. ThePrincipal Chief Conservator of Forests& Head of Forest Force, Nagaland,Mr. M. Lokeswara Rao, IFS, organised ameeting with the Chief WildlifeWarden, Mr. T. Lotha, along withMr. Supongnukshi Ao, DFO Wokha, andall the other divisional forest officers.Strategies for conserving and providinga safe passage to the Amurs were workedout. Intimation was given to theadministration and the police, and theircooperation sought for effectiveimplementation of these strategies.

With urgent zeal to ensure that theAmur Falcons pass through safely, thePCCF & HOFF of Nagaland went to

Mr. Kamdi Hemant Bhaskar (above) and Ms. Zuthunglo Patton, two young IFS officerswere deployed to see complete stoppage of killing of Amur Falcon. They conducted

many meetings and workshops in schools, colleges, and churches

Forest Officer interacting with school children for saving Amur Falcon

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Wokha district to hold an awarenessmeet with the villagers, staff of WokhaForest Division, NGOs, and otherstakeholders. The people were madeaware of the background, biology,behaviour, and ecological importanceof these falcons. The participants’empathy was roused by the fact thatAmurs travel an unimaginable distanceof 22,000 km each year, during whichthey rest for sometime in Nagalandbefore taking off again towards theirwintering grounds. It impressed themgreatly that these birds undertake sucha long and arduous journey for sheersurvival. Their emotional attachment tothe bird was secured when they realisedthat these birds come from the sameplace as their ancestors, Mongolia. Asa result, last year, people waited withgreat anticipation to welcome the birds.

The Church is an organisedinstitution that strives not only forspiritual development but also socialdevelopment of the Naga people.Bearing in mind that its impact andpenetration among the masses isincomparable to any other institution, theForest Department approached thepastors. Aware of the problem, theyshouldered the responsibility of moralor ethical education in the context offalcon conservation. They devotedSunday services to address the issue andurged the congregation to be wisestewards, not destructive rulers, ofcreation. This was followed by signaturecampaigns to save the Amur Falcon,spreading out from Pangti village toother villages in Sungro, Sanis, andEnglan ranges, which form the catchmentarea of the Doyang Reservoir. Finally, aresolution was made by the KyongBaptist Ekhumkho Pastorden Sanrhyu(KBEPS) which involves 138 churchesof Lotha community ‘to pray for andsupport the State fight to protect themigratory bird, Amur Falcon’, during its53rd annual conference in October 2013.The Department has initiated theextension of these activities to all

churches in Nagaland through theNagaland Baptist Church Council(NBCC), reaching out to more than 1,200churches.

Under the Forest Department’sflagship programme ‘National GreenCorps’, every school in Nagaland hasEco-clubs to promote environmentaleducation. So in areas within the AmurFalcon migratory pathway, Eco-clubswere given specific scientific inputsthough presentations, screening of

wildlife movies, story telling, and otheractivities. Wildlife Week (first week ofOctober) last year was dedicated to the‘Save Amur Falcon’ theme. NGOs cameforth with education programmes forschools like ‘Under the Canopy’programme by the Friends of the AmurFalcon, an initiative of the NagalandWildlife and Biodiversity ConservationTrust (NBWCT), and ‘Animal ActionEducation’ by the Natural Nagas andWildlife Trust of India (WTI).

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Songs (above) and signature campaign (below) helped in popularisingthe message of Amur Falcon conservation

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Acceptance that hunting is an illegaland destructive act was made possiblethrough different awarenessprogrammes proving it ethically,ecologically, and emotionally wrong.For legal awareness, the ForestDepartment along with DistrictAdministration, Police, village level lawenforcing authorities, NGOs, andFishermen’s Union were involved in aone-day awareness workshop on therelevant provisions of the Wildlife(Protection) Act, 1972.

The local communities wereinvolved in awareness seminars carriedout by the Forest Department, NaturalNagas, and Wildlife Trust of India,covering different aspects of AmurFalcon conservation. These were themeans of facilitating a two-wayinteraction to note the grievances of thepeople and to come up with viablesolutions. Open-air wildlife moviescreenings and community discussionswere among the other means to reachout to the people.

Above all, literature, posters, andbookmarks were distributed andhoardings put up to generatewidespread awareness about AmurFalcon. Flexi banners with slogans forAmur conservation as well as punitivemeasures for law-breakers were put up

in public places. The Forest Departmentalso used newspapers to spreadawareness by publishing articles onconservation. Events and progress aboutAmur conservation were also muchdiscussed on social networking sites,thus spreading the message ofconservation worldwide. Moreover, Eco-clubs, Natural Nagas supported by WTIand NWBCT also came out with a hugenumber of posters. Later in December,during the Hornbill Festival of 2013,national and international guests werewelcomed with the happy news that thefalcons were flying free. Informationbooths, posters, stickers, and hoardingswere put up everywhere by the sameNGOs and the Forest Department.

To maintain the enthusiasm ofpeople which was heightened after allthe awareness activities and also tobring the youth into the mainstream,‘The Save Amur Falcon Marathon’ wasorganised by the Forest Departmentalong with Pangti Students Union inhonour of the marathon migrant, theAmur Falcon. This event was held onOctober 19, 2013, and receivedenthusiastic response from the villagers,with more than 180 male and femaleparticipants of all ages.

Enforcement: Equal efforts weremade on the enforcement front. District

Level Co-ordination Committee(DLCC) to control wildlife crime wasformed in all the districts, involving theVillage Council, DistrictAdministration, Police, NGOs,Revenue Department, and otherprominent community organisations.This Committee was given theresponsibility of checking bottleneckslike markets, and strategic transitroutes. Raids and regular patrollingwere done regularly, and checkpostswere established. Military andparamilitary forces were also roped intothis activity.

Forest Protection Force, an armedwing of the Forest Department, wasdeployed in Doyang for the wholemigration season and worked roundthe clock for effective prevention ofthe trapping and killing of birds. Theystarted their work well in advance tobe able to have a deterrent effect.Patrolling, raids, and protection campsaround the roosting sites were the mosteffective enforcement measures. TheNatural Nagas and WTI also joined inthese efforts, established a protectioncamp and actively patrolled thearea.

The Chief Minister, Mr. Neiphu Rio,denounced the hunting of wildlife andwarned the villagers about withholdinggrants-in-aid as a punitive measure.Notifications regarding the same wererelayed by the Chief Secretary and theDirector, Rural Development, forimplementation during the migratoryseason. The Forest Department bankeda lot on this action and issuedthousands of leaflets carrying themessage of conservation on one sideand the concerned notifications on theother.

Livelihood: Village Council memberssigned a tripartite Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) with the WTIand Natural Nagas to stop large-scalehunting of Amur Falcon in the DoyangReservoir. Following the MoU, underthe Rapid Action Programme, ‘Bird for


Churches played a significant role in conveying the message of conservation

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Bird’ programme was implemented toaddress the meat requirement andanother programme ‘Grain for Grain’ tocompensate for the losses incurred dueto wild elephants. Also, a protectionsquad was formed involving thevillagers. According to them, a plan togive economic incentives to thelandowners of the roosting sites is alsoin the offing. The PCCF & HOFF ofNagaland, Mr. Lokeswara Rao, visitedDoyang and addressed thestakeholders. A promise to bring thevillage under a ‘BiodiversityConservation Reserve’ and addressingthe livelihood grievances of the peoplein collaboration with NagalandLivelihood Mission, Tourism, Fisheries,etc., trust was strengthened betweenthe community and the ForestDepartment. The fishermen who huntthe birds during the lean season werepacified and they cooperated to givesafe passage to the birds.

A Conservation Action Plan whichincludes components like involvementin protection work, self-help groups,micro-financing, ecotourism, habitatimprovement, and research, has beenprepared and submitted to theGovernment by the Chief WildlifeWarden, and is currently awaitingapproval.

The result of all these efforts put inby everyone concerned was thatfishermen who were once huntersenthusiastically participated in a jointmission to satellite tag some AmurFalcon individuals. This was aninitiative of the Wildlife Institute of India(WII) Dehradun, Raptors MoU of theConvention on Migratory Species(CMS), MME (Birdlife International)Hungary, and the Department of Forest,Ecology, Environment, and Wildlife,Nagaland. 28 birds were ringedaltogether with the rings generouslymade available by the Bombay NaturalHistory Society (BNHS). From amongthese, three PTT tagged falcons wereselected. One male was named “Naga”

and two females were named “Wokha”and “Pangti” after the state, district, andvillage respectively. These birds wereall tagged and released on November 7,2013. The male Amur Naga reachedSouth Africa first on January 9, 2014,while the two females reached later.Since then, Naga and Pangti have takenup their return journey and are now inMongolia, while no more signal hasbeen received from Wokha after reachingSouth Africa.

It is to be understood thatNagaland will receive many visitorsthis season from all over the world asa result of this success story aboutthe safe passage provided to theAmur Falcon by the locals. Accoladeshave poured in from reputedindividuals and organisations for thevillagers who sacrificed their age-oldtraditional practice of hunting andgave their wholehearted support tothe Forest Department and to variousNGOs to ensure that no birds werekilled. These include the UNEP-CMS;the then Minister of Environment andForests, Dr. M. Veerappa Moily; theDGF & Spl. Secy, Dr. S.S. Garbyaland,and Bombay Natural History Society(BNHS).

A presentation was made during thePlenary Session of the 8th Asian RaptorResearch and Conservation Network(ARRCN) held in Pune this year.Reputed scientists from all over theworld appreciated the efforts made bythe villagers and the Forest Departmentas well as NGOs. This resulted in aresolution being adopted during the 8thARRCN and submitted to theGovernment of India thereafter, theresolution being “to recognise threatsto Amur Falcons and other migratory

birds during migration to India andsafeguard their stopover sites”.

THE WAYAHEADIn Nagaland, since a major chunk of

the land is under community control andspecial status is attributed to Nagalandby Article 371(A) of the IndianConstitution, implementation of even theWildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 has notbeen very effective so far. In such ascenario, only conservation efforts thatare made with the people’s support willprove fruitful in the long run. From whatwe have observed and experiencedduring the past year, these three villages(especially Pangti village) have initiatedan unprecedented and unique processthat needs to be acknowledged andencouraged. The villagers are looking forpositive external inputs and support, andhave often affirmed during ourinteractions that given viable livelihoodoptions, they would assuredly refrainfrom hunting wild animals and birds.Given that they have paved the way foreffective conservation, it is crucial to takeprompt steps towards securing theirconfidence, leaving nothing to chance,and addressing their needs in return fortheir co-operation. Lack of interest andenthusiasm from government and non-government agencies could lead todisenchantment and distrust among thelocal people. Moreover, the youth whoare taking a keen interest in conservationactivities also face the problem ofunemployment. In such a scenario,facilitating and guiding them to take agreater interest in conservation andlinking this to livelihood options canbuild a strong and effective community-based conservation movement inNagaland.

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Kamdi Hemant Bhaskar,IFS, Wildlife Warden,Wildlife Division,Kiphire, [email protected]

Zuthunglo Patton, IFS,DivisionalForest Officer,Doyang PlantationDivision, Wokha,[email protected]

T H R E A T E N E D B I R D S O F I N D I A

Tracking the incredible journey of a small raptor

Amur Falcon from India

Of the 69 species of raptorsknown from India, AmurFalcon Falco amurensis was

one of the least talked about speciestill recently. Primarily recorded fromnortheast India, with a few scatteredsight records in peninsular India, thespecies is generally considered rare.All that changed following a report byan NGO Conservation India in 2012 ofthe massive large scale harvest of thesefalcons in Nagaland. Researchersestimated that between 120,000 and140,000 individuals were being trappedand killed for human consumption injust one location in Nagaland at theDoyang roost site in Wokha districteach year (Dalvi et al. 2013).

Weighing 160–200 gm, AmurFalcon is a small bird of prey and is along distance, trans-equatorial migrant(Bildstein 2006), travelling fromeastern Asia all the way to southernAfrica and back every year. Annually,in early autumn, these migrant falconsleave their Asian breeding range andtravel to parts of northeast India andBangladesh that act as staging areasfor the overland flights across India(Ali & Ripley1987; Naoroji 2007). Innortheast India, they are known tocollect in flocks numbering thousands,to feed and rest before continuing theirjourney. Subsequently, they undertakethe longest regular overwatermigration of any bird of prey, crossingover the Indian Ocean between westernIndia and tropical east Africa, a journeyof more than 4,000 km, which includesnocturnal flight (Bildstein & Zalles2005). This species is adapted to the

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strong monsoon tailwinds, whichresults in its late arrival in eastern Africain autumn (Ash & Atkins 2009).Migrants are said to arrive in theirsouthern African winter range inNovember-December and depart byearly May (Mendelsohn 1997). Thespring passage route is not clearlyknown, and it is suspected that they flyacross the Arabian Peninsula, norththrough Afghanistan and then to eastAsia (Ali & Ripley 1987; BirdLifeInternational 2014).

Hard-hitting images of the large-scale harvest of Amur Falcons inNagaland led to an international outcryfrom conservation organisations andindividuals across the world. TheGovernment of India, at both state andnational levels, acted promptly, bringingan immediate ban on hunting. The

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R. Suresh Kumar of WII and Nick P. Wiliams of CMS releasing the taggedAmur Falcon Wokha

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Nagaland State Forest Department,along with several non-governmentalorganisations, initiated extensiveconservation education programmes.The latter resulted in the local peoplecoming forward to protect the Amurswhen they arrived in October 2013.

This incident brought to notice notonly the extensive hunting of thespecies, it also generated an awarenessthat large numbers of Amur Falcon passthrough Nagaland. This migratory stop-over and roost is believed to be by farthe largest and most spectacular roostof any species of falcon ever seen.Currently, there are no clear estimatesof the population passing through theregion, and the migratory routes andother stop-over sites across India areunknown. India, being a signatory tothe Convention on Migratory Species(CMS), is duty bound to preventhunting, and provide safe passage, aswell as draw up appropriate action plansfor the long-term conservation of thisbird.

One such plan was to satellite trackAmur Falcon to better understand theirbehaviour and ecology during theirpresence in Nagaland, along themigration routes, and in the winteringareas in Africa. Using web-based tools,the information gained was also to beactively applied to raise awareness ofthe international importance of thisspecies and to promote falconconservation, particularly among localcommunities in Nagaland.

A joint mission to satellite tag AmurFalcons in Nagaland betweenNovember 4–9, 2013 was thus initiatedby the Wildlife Institute of India incollaboration with Nick Williams, Headof the Coordinating Unit of theMemorandum of Understanding on theConservation of Migratory Birds of Preyin Africa and Eurasia (Raptors MOU);Hungarian ornithologists PeterFehervari, Szabolcs Solt, and PeterPalatitz; and the Nagaland State ForestDepartment. The Hungarianornithologists had several years

experience studying the closely relatedRed-footed Falcon Falco vespertinus,which also included a study to tracktheir migration from Europe to SouthAfrica.

At the Doyang roost site, afterseveral attempts over three days, 30Amurs were finally trapped using mistnets on the night of November 6, 2013.Three of them in good feathercondition, and appearing to be in goodhealth, were selected for the satellitetagging. One male was named Naga inshort for Nagaland; one female wasnamed Wokha after the district whichis globally important for its roost site;and a second female was named Pangtiafter the village located in Wokhadistrict and in recognition of the effortsmade by the people of Pangti to protectthese falcons. The birds were fittedwith the state-of-the-art 5 gram Solar-Powered PTT (Microwave TelemetryInc.), like a backpack using a speciallymade teflon harness, and released inthe morning of November 7. All the


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Mr. Lokeswara Rao Madiraju, Chief Conservator of Forests & Head of Forest Force of Nagaland releasing Naga

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birds were ringed with a BNHS metalring on the left leg and a colour-codedplastic ring on the right.

On the morning of November 10(08:00 hrs), Pangti was the first to departon the south bound migration from herroost along the Assam-Manipur-Nagaland border. Naga was the next toleave on November 11 (11:00 hrs), andthen Wokha departed on November 13(05:30 hrs). Both Naga and Wokharoosted for a night in the hills along theMizoram-Tripura border. All three birds

flew nonstop first southwest overBangladesh and then over the Bay ofBengal for a day to arrive at the AndhraPradesh coast, covering an over-waterdistance that ranged from 600 to 1,300km. Pangti and Wokha flew into AndhraPradesh north of Visakhapatnam, whileNaga made the crossing at the Krishnariver delta south of Machilipatnam. Thefalcons then travelled west to arrive onthe western seaboard of India on thesecond day. En route, Pangti stopped

for a night just south of Satara inMaharashtra, while Wokha stopped ata site along the Andhra Pradesh-Karnataka border north of Raichurtown. Incredibly, Naga continued to flynonstop and entered air space over theArabian Sea around 20 km south ofPanaji, Goa and flew across to arrive atthe northern African shore of Somaliaon the morning of November 16. Nagamade an incredible nonstop flight fromNE India, covering a distance of 5,600km in 5 days and 10 hrs, flying at a speed

of 40 km/hr. Pangti entered over theArabian Sea about 150 km south ofMumbai and also arrived at the Somaliancoast, south of the Horn of Africa onthe evening of November 16. Wokha,who departed late, took a longeroceanic route and arrived at theSomalian coast in the Gulf of Aden. TheArabian Sea crossing was c. 2,800-3,000-3,060 km and lasted 82-77-72 hours forPangti-Naga-Wokha respectively. Allthree birds were assisted by tailwinds

of the northeasterly trade winds ofabout 20 km/hr.

The behaviour of the falconschanged after arriving in Africa withfrequent stops and by December 25,all three birds arrived in their winteringrange in southern Africa.The migratoryroutes of the falcons converged atseveral locations along the route passingthrough Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania,Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique,Zimbabwe, Botswana, and South Africa.One of the major stop-over sites of the

three falcons en route to South Africawas the Tsavo East and West NationalPark in southern Kenya. Naga spentnearly one month moving within aradius of c. 7,000 sq. km in the TsavoEast National Park before headingsouth. Pangti was the first to arrive inSouth Africa, and she first movedaround the Transvaal region beforesettling down at a site west ofJohannesburg, where she spent 75days. Wokha was the next to arrive in


Prayers being offered for the safe passage of the tagged Amur Falcon Pangti

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South Africa and made similarmovements before settling down at asite far south close to the South Africa-Lesotho border. There, Wokha stayedfor 68 days before the transmission wasdiscontinued, as she appeared to havedied or the transmitter was thought tohave fallen off. Naga only arrived as farsouth as Botswana where he remainedat a site bordering the Central KalahariGame Reserve for 68 days.

Naga started his return migration onMarch 21 from Botswana, while Pangtistarted on April 3 from South Africaand within a span of 16 and 20 daysboth the birds arrived in Somalia. Theyreturned to the same spot where theyhad arrived on their south-boundautumn passage. After spending a fewdays in Somalia, Naga departed overthe open sea, crossing on theafternoon of April 18. This time againNaga made nonstop flight across theArabian Sea, then across India, andstopped for a night in northernMyanmar. The return migration routeof Naga was further north and alongthe Arabian Peninsula, and madelandfall at the Gujarat coast, north ofthe Gulf of Kutch. Pangti followed thesame route as Naga, even though thelatter had departed 22 days ago. Both

the falcons did not return to theDoyang roost site in Nagaland andinstead flew across south throughManipur state and into Myanmar.

The two falcons then flew east andsoutheast along the Myanmar-Chinaborder. After a few stops in southernChina and along the China-Vietnamborder, Naga changed direction to flynorth and arrived on May 7 at its likelybreeding site located 500 km northwestof Beijing. Pangti flew across into Laosand after a few stops in Vietnam alsoturned north to arrive at a site 350 kmwest of Beijing. While the two falconshave currently arrived in their breedingrange, which is c. 9,000 km from theshores of Somalia, it is yet to be knownwhether they will fly further north. Themigration routes of the falcons trackedacross India coincides with theinnumerable sight records of thespecies along the west coast of India.Interestingly, though there are anumber of sight records of Amur fromSri Lanka and Maldives, most falconsfly non-stop to Africa on the sea.

Furthermore, there are a number ofsight records from Nepal and northernIndia. Are these birds part of thepopulation that arrives in Nagaland orare they a different population thatmigrates across the Himalaya, and isstill to be known? It is hoped that thetwo falcons, Naga and Pangti, willreturn to Nagaland in October this yearand provide more insights on theirincredible ability to travel half wayacross the globe each year.

ReferencesAli, S. and Ripley, S.D. (1987) Compact

Edition of the Handbook of theBirds of India and Pakistan.Oxford University Press, NewDelhi.

Bildstein, K.L. (2006) Migrating raptorsof the world: their ecology &conservation. Cornell UniversityPress, Ithaca, New York, 336 pp.

Bildstein, K.L. and Zalles, J.I. (2005) OldWorld versus New World long-distance migration in accipiters,buteos, and falcons: the interplayof migration ability and globalbiogeography. In: Greenberg, R.and Marra, P.P. (eds). Birds of twoworlds: the ecology and evolutionof migration. Johns HopkinsUniversity Press, Baltimore. Pp. 154–167.

BirdLife International (2014) Speciesfactsheet: Falco amurensis. Down-loaded from http://www.birdlife.org on23/06/2014.

Dalvi, S., Sreenivasan, R. and Price, T.(2013) Exploitation in NortheastIndia. Science 339 (6117): 270–270.

Mendelsohn, J.M. (1997) EasternRedfooted Kestrel Falcoamurensis. The Atlas of SouthAfrican Birds 1: 262–263.

Naoroji, R. (2007) Birds of Prey of theIndian Subcontinent. Om BooksInternational, New Delhi.

R. Suresh Kumar,Department of Endangered Species ManagementWildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.Email: [email protected]


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Amur Falcon makes one of the longest migrations in the world

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The annual passage of Amur Falcons through thestate of Nagaland in northeast India happens duringthe first week of October to the last week of

November. The raptors converge in thousands from differentcountries to roost mainly in the Pangti area of Doyang Valleyin Wokha district, making it arguably the largest congregationof Amur Falcons in the world. Nick Williams of UNEP hasalso declared the area as “the falcon capital of the world”.

In 2012, Conservation India’s exposé on “Themassacre of Amur Falcons” in the media and internet wentviral and the race to save the raptors began. The NaturalNagas, a young wildlife organization of Nagaland, was alsoworking in the field, trying to figure out how to reach out tothe community, and was spreading awareness when theexposé happened.

Later, in the end of 2012, Natural Nagas tied up withWildlife Trust of India (WTI) and, as a collaborating partnerin Nagaland, started direct entry point activities after a seriesof interactions with the village councils of Pangti, Sungro,and Ashaa, local people, hunters, and landowners.

After the successful implementation of ‘Bird for Bird’ and‘Grain for Grain’ programme of the WTI and ForestDepartment, a breakthrough came with the signing of ahistoric MoU between the village councils of Pangti, Sungro,Ashaa, WTI, and Natural Nagas. The signing of the MoUled to a resolution from the village councils to restrict huntingand trapping of Amur Falcons and imposition of a Rs. 5,000penalty for those caught hunting and trapping these raptors.

ACTIVITIES OF THE AMUR FALCON CONSERVATION CAMPAIGN

As agreed, WTI and Natural Nagas successfullyimplemented the following activities.

Awareness campaigns: Awareness campaigns on theconservation of Amur Falcon with the support of thecommunity and Forest Department, filming of wildlifedocumentaries, power point presentations, songs, andinteractions with villagers, students, the church, and variousorganizations.

Bird for Bird: About 1,000 chickens were provided to 30households, consisting of the families of hunters andlandowners.

Amur FalconConservation inNagaland

Steve Odyuo


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Grain for Grain: Nearly 100 households of Pangti,Sungro, and Ashaa were provided with a bag of rice each asrelief for the families whose crops and fields were damagedby elephants.

Patrolling squad: Fifteen reformed hunters were employedon wages as members of the patrolling squad for a period ofthree months during the Amur Falcon migration through

Nagaland. They were provided with uniforms, equipment,and logistical support.

Ex gratia for roosting site: Ex gratia was provided forprotecting the roosting sites and to discourage jhumcultivation in the surrounding areas.

Watch Tower: A watch tower was built overlooking theroosting site with the assistance of the Nagaland BambooDevelopment Agency (NBDA), to encourage birdwatchingand to promote ecotourism as an alternative livelihood.

Base camp for volunteers: A base camp was set up forvolunteers, media, and conservationists by the banks of theDoyang Reservoir for 54 days covering the migration period,to monitor and highlight conservation efforts.

Capacity building: A capacity building exercise isunderway to equip the community for transition intoalternative sources of livelihood.

OTHER ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT DURING THE AMUR FALCON

CONSERVATION CAMPAIGN

Documentary on Amur Falcon conservation: Adocumentary on Amur Falcon conservation in Nagaland titled“Flying Free” has been released by Natural Nagas with thecollaboration of the Department of Forests, Nagaland.

Marathon: The Department of Forests, Nagalandorganized a Marathon to create awareness about Amur



A tagged Amur Falcon with PTT

Events like ‘Marathon’ for protection of Amur Falcon by the local people helped in spreading the message of conservation

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Falcons, with the active participation of the Natural Nagas.Train the Trainer: The Nagaland Biodiversity and Wildlife

Conservation Trust, with Conservation India, conducted afour-day workshop to “train the trainer” and formed eco-clubs named “Friends of Amur Falcons” at Sungro.

Forest Protection Force: A 24x7 vigil was kept by the FPFof the Forest Department for the entire migration period.

Signage and posters: Posters and signage campaign wasdone by the Department of Forests, WTI, and Natural Nagas.

Participation during Hornbill Festival: The WTI andNatural Nagas, with the support of the Department ofForests, Nagaland have participated for the past two yearsin the Hornbill Festival, using it as a platform to highlight theconservation efforts of Nagaland, reaching out to a wideaudience, both domestic and international.

Amur Falcon satellite tagging: Three Amur Falcons,named Naga, Wokha, and Pangti were satellite tagged andreleased on November 7, 2013, by a team consisting ofmembers from UNEP, Hungarian BirdLife, Wildlife Instituteof India, and the Department of Forests, Nagaland.

Co-ordination meet and implementation of NagalandWildlife Protection Act: A series of co-ordination meetingswere held with the Administration, Police, Forest Department,village councils, Natural Nagas, and the community, to delveinto the implications of the Nagaland Wildlife Protection Act

and to see that it is implemented.Imposition of ban on hunting and penalties: The

Government of Nagaland, through the DeputyCommissioner of Wokha, issued notices on the ban onhunting of Amur Falcon. The Government of Nagaland alsoissued an order to the effect that the defaulting villageswould not receive development funds under the RuralDevelopment Projects.

More efforts have to be made for the conservation ofAmur Falcons to be truly successful, as hunting is deeplyingrained in the community’s culture and traditions. Thesuccess of the 2013 Amur Falcon conservation drive cantruly be credited to the community which has been veryreceptive to the awareness campaigns. The success ofconservation efforts can only be achieved if livelihood issuesare addressed for the community, whose most fertile landshave been submerged by the Doyang Reservoir andoccupied by wild elephants.

Steve Odyuo,Chairman,Natural Nagas, Nagaland.E-mail: [email protected]


Natural Nagas, a local NGO, played a significant role in training young volunteers to spread the message of conservation

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In October 2012, India had justfinished with a high profile UnitedNations summit, a meeting of the

Convention on Biological Diversity.Here, India reaffirmed her commitmentsto the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, whichaim at zero species extinction, and tohighlighting the importance ofbiodiversity to all audiences. A few daysafter this huge summit, news trickled inabout the hunting of falcons inNagaland. My first reaction was, whatare falcons hunted for, and how manywere hunted, perhaps fifty to a hundred?

When we saw the images and a videofilm of the hunt, made by ConservationIndia (CI), it was hard to sleep. This wasnot the hunting of a few scores offalcons for recreation. This was anindustrial scale slaughter of screaming,crying Amur Falcons, in a state thatoften bends the law vis a vis wild animalhunting. There are no accurate counts,

but one hunter I spoke with said he tookdown 800 falcons in a day, to eat, smoketo preserve, and sell. More than 200people hunted the falcons over twoweeks, so simple mathematics says thatover one lakh falcons were killed. Andwhile the exact numbers may not be soimportant, the scale of the hunt andslaughter certainly is. If it continues atthis scale, the Amur Falcon could wellmeet the fate of the Passenger Pigeon,which though once abundant, becameextinct following over-hunting.

An International CampaignWe could not let this continue. We

circulated the video made byConservation India. This was the startof a national and international campaign.We had to raise the issue so it would getthe attention of policy makers as well aslaw enforcement agencies. We contactedour international partners, BirdLifeInternational and Royal Society forProtection of Birds (RSPB), both based

in UK, who became part of the campaign.I recall one colleague saying, “I haveseen many horrible things go wrong inthe world, but this is very much on topof the list.” We wanted action in India,and BNHS contacted the Centralgovernment. BNHS took up the issue ina meeting of the National Board forWildLife, just two days after we werecontacted by Conservation India, thewebsite that had first raised the issue ofAmur Falcons. Then Minister ofEnvironment and Forests, Mrs. JayanthiNatarajan, was at the meeting. Shockedat the graphic pictures and Dr. Rahmani’sdetailed account of the hunting, shesent a communication to Nagalandasking for the killings to stop. Later, sheasked for an Action Taken report. Soon,the issue became more than just aNagaland issue. Nationally andinternationally, people were watching.

In Nagaland, the Nagaland Wildlifeand Biodiversity Conservation Trust(NWBCT) led by journalist turnedconservationist Bano Haralu, contactedthe local administration. The Centre andState both took note of the campaign.The Nagaland Forest Department gotactively involved in the issue. Theauthorities took the nets down and somebirds were able to continue the migration.Internationally, the video made by CIwent viral. BirdLife was keen that thosewho felt strongly about the issue shouldget a chance to do more. BirdLife thusstarted an online emergency fund for theAmur Falcon. People were invited todonate for immediate action, and theyopened up their hearts, for a bird manyhad never seen, and for a part of Indiaunknown to many in India itself. Thesuccess of the emergency appeal gaveus the means to carry on conservationactivities after the remaining birds hadleft for their winter migration.

Government, NGOs, and Peopleworking together

At BNHS, we strongly believe in thepower of education as an agent of

Neha Sinha

Working together toface a crisis

With the efforts of the Nagaland Forest Department, NGOs, and local people, let ushope that kills like above will not be seen again

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change. Thus we supported NWBCTin starting eco-clubs in village schools,in the same areas as the huntersoriginated from. NWBCT endorsed theidea of also employing some localpeople in the eco-clubs, which BNHSand BirdLife supported. Eco-clubs werestarted in Ashaa, Doyang, Sungro, andPangti villages. Two years on, studentshave responded positively to a detailedand interactive nature curriculum, andamong other things, have exhorted theirparents to not hunt falcons. The localNGO, Natural Nagas, was also involvedin outreach with the villagers.

Last summer, the state governmentalso took up the issue very strongly andthe Forest Department was instrumentalin enforcing the law. This sort of interestextended by the Forest Department iscrucial and also remarkable, because inissues of law enforcement – the WildlifeProtection Act prohibits the hunting ofany falcon species – it is the ForestDepartment and various governmentagencies who have the mandate foraction. In various crucial points in thestate, former Chief Minister Neiphu Rioput up personal appeals to stop thehunting. Within the Forest Department,officers have been put on special dutyto ensure that the Amur Falcons are notillegally hunted and the community isreached out to. Last year, apart fromactive civil society action, the ForestDepartment also stayed with thevillagers, listening to their demands andissues, and negotiating a communityconservation model.

An international birdThe Amur Falcon is an international

bird, touching the shores of threecontinents – Asia, Africa, and Europe –each year on its migration.Understanding its ecology andbehaviour, and the conservationimplications of its migration, are importantto safeguard its future. Last year, BirdLifeHungary, Wildlife Institute of India, arepresentative from United Nations

Environment Programme, and NagalandForest Department ringed and satellite-tagged three Amur Falcons in Doyang.BNHS was called on to provide the ringsfor the falcons. The amazing journey ofthe falcons was tracked – and it wasfound that they crossed the IndianOcean in just five days!

This year, we hope to extend thescope of our cooperation, and ensurethat this initiative is furtherstrengthened. BNHS will work with boththe NWBCT and the forest departmentto further Amur Falcon conservation inNagaland. We will work on ecotourismmodules to provide some livelihood

opportunities for the people. The aim isto have these systems operationalthroughout the year, not just during themigration season. Conservation canonly succeed with a coming together ofcommunity, government, and civilsociety, with each adding inputs. Afterthe 2012 mass killing tragedy, we hopethis part of Nagaland remains asustainable success story for othervillages to follow.

Neha SinhaPolicy and Advocacy OfficerBNHS IndiaEmail: [email protected]

BNHS, BirdLife International, and NWBCT worked together to spread the conservationmessage. We have to sustain this campaign for many more years

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Bano Haralu NWBCT with Santsu Shitiri, Council Chairman, Ashaa Village at theDoyang Reservoir, November 2013, during Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio’s visit




GENERAL DESCRIPTIONDoyang Reservoir was created during the construction

of the dam for Doyang Hydro Electric Project, in Wokhadistrict, Nagaland. Doyang is a rockfill dam andhydroelectric project with a design capacity of 75 MWe, onthe Doyang river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, 26 kmfrom Wokha town, the district headquarters. The powerplant is run by the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation(NEEPCO). The other cities nearby are Mokokchung(Nagaland), Golaghat (Assam), and Kohima (Nagaland).

Doyang Reservoir easily qualifies for the A4(iv) criteria(Congregations) of the Global IBA Criteria. A4(iv) isapplicable to sites known or thought to exceed the thresholdsset for migratory species at bottleneck sites. The site qualifiesunder this criterion as it is the bottleneck site for feeding andresting of more than a million Amur Falcon Falco amurensisduring their migration.

A team consisting of Ramki Sreenivasan fromConservation India, Shashank Dalvi, Bano Haralu, and

Doyang Reservoir: A potential IBA in Nagaland

Site Name : Doyang Reservoir

State : Nagaland

District : Wokha

Coordinates : 26° 13' 45" N; 94° 17' 51" E.

Altitude : 300 m

IBA Criteria : A4(iv) migratory species at bottleneck sites

Rokohebi Kuotsu visited the area in October 2012 andbrought to light the issue of the massacre of Amur Falcons.They estimated that during the peak migration 12,000 – 14,000falcons were being hunted in the area for consumption andcommercial sale every day. They also estimated that 120,000to 140,000 birds were being slaughtered in Nagaland everyyear during their passage through the state (ConservationIndia website accessed on May 30, 2014).

Amur Falcons breed in east Asia from the Transbaikalia,Amurland, and northern Mongolian region to parts of NorthKorea. They migrate in a broad front through India,sometimes further east over Thailand and Cambodia, andthen over the Arabian Sea, sometimes in passage on theMaldives and other islands, to reach southern Africa.Birds going over India are thought to be aided by strongwinds blowing westwards. These winds are strong at analtitude of about 3,000 m and the birds are believed to fly ata height above 1,000 m during migration (Peter & Holman2001).



Approximately a million Amur Falcons pass through thevalley during their migration and hence it easily qualifies asan IBA under the A4(iv) criterion which applies to sitesknown or thought to exceed thresholds set for migratoryspecies at bottleneck sites. The global population of thespecies is estimated to be 1,000,000 birds (BirdLifeInternational 2014).

MIGRATION ROUTEIn a significant achievement, three Amur Falcons were

satellite tagged by scientists of BirdLife Hungary with thehelp of Wildlife Institute of India, Nagaland ForestDepartment, and local people, and released on November 6,2013 near Pangti village. The birds were named Naga, Wokha,and Pangti. The three birds were fitted with 5 gram ARGOSsatellite tags with antenna and solar panel on their back(http://www.cms.int/en/project/conservation-amur-falcon-nagaland-and-along-its-migration-route).

The satellite tagging was an initiative of the UnionMinistry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), WildlifeInstitute of India (WII), Convention on Migratory SpeciesOffice (CMS), United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP), and the Nagaland Forest Department.

The migration route of the tagged bird can be monitoredon the http://www.satellitetracking.eu website, from which asummary of how the three tagged Amur Falcons travelledacross countries and continents is given below:

The male bird named Naga (with colour ring number KAM,ring number C56801) flew over Senapati and Churachandpur

(Manipur) to Aizawl (Mizoram), entered Bangladesh, Bay ofBengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Goa, after which itflew non-stop across the Arabian Sea to reach the coast ofSomalia on November 20, 2013. It stayed at the TsavoNational Park in Kenya for a few days, before crossing toTanzania, Zimbabwe, and Botswana, finally entering SouthAfrica on January 9, 2014. During its return journey, it travelledthrough Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, and Kenya,and left the African mainland through Somalia to touch Indiansoil at Gujarat. It travelled through Madhya Pradesh, UttarPradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Bangladesh, Meghalaya, andManipur. It then flew through Myanmar down to avoid theextreme south-eastern Himalaya, climbed north-east towardsBeijing and then to Inner Mongolia where it is probablybreeding now (http://www.satellitetracking.eu/inds/showmap/?check_143=143 as accessed on 30 June 2014).Similarly, the female falcon named Pangti (colour ring numberKFM, ring number C56803) flew over Silchar (Assam),Agartala (Tripura), Bangladesh, Sundarbans, Bay of Bengal,Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra beforecrossing the Arabian Sea. It then crossed the coast ofSomalia, entered Kenya, and rested at Tsavo National Parkfor a few days before flying across Tanzania, Zambia, andBotswana, to enter South Africa. During its return journey itfollowed nearly the same route as that of Naga (http://www.satellitetracking.eu/inds/showmap/?check_145=145 asaccessed on 30 June 2014). From its wintering ground nearNewcastle (in South Africa) to its breeding site in Mongoliait flew a whopping distance of 14,560 km at 50 km/h. During

Map showing migration route of three satellite tagged Amur Falcons. Yellow - Pangti; Orange - Wokha; Red - Naga.

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the journey this falcon took a nonstop flight of 5,912 kmover the Arabian Sea which it covered in just over five days(http://www.easternmirrornagaland.com/2013/09/the-story-of-amur-falcon-its-conservation-and-safe-passage/ asaccessed on 30 June 2014).

The third falcon, a female named Wokha (colour ringnumber KCM, ring number C56802), flew over Silchar(Assam), Chittagong (Bangladesh), Bay of Bengal, AndhraPradesh, Karnataka, and Goa before crossing the ArabianSea to reach Somalia through the Gulf of Aden. Further on itflew through Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, andZimbabwe, and reached South Africa. Probably thetransmitter stopped working due to unknown reasons onMarch 31, 2014, near Sterkfontein Nature Reserve in SouthAfrica (http://www.satellitetracking.eu/inds/showmap/?check_144=144 as accessed on 30 June 2014).

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMMEDIATE ACTIONThe following recommendations are taken from the

Conservation India website, accessed on May 30, 2014:1. The roosting place is localised and should be sealed

off by the authorities (Deputy Commissioner,Superintendent of Police, North Eastern Electric PowerCorporation [NEEPCO] and Forest Department).

2. Gain an understanding of and seal trade of Amur Falcon

meat, mainly in big towns like Dimapur, Kohima.3. Aggressively follow up on the enforcement of the

Deputy Commissioner’s ban with Forest Department,Police, local communities, and the Church.

4. Create awareness of the ban and the legalconsequences (fine) in all villages including Pangti,Wokha, Doyang, and Sungro.

CONSERVATION ACTIONS TAKENThe following recommendations are taken from the

Conservation India website, accessed on May 30, 2014.Various conservation initiatives have been made in Nagaland.The Government of Nagaland is involved in all the initiativesto end the killing of Amur Falcons. Bombay Natural HistorySociety (BNHS) and other NGOs such as Wildlife Trust ofIndia (WTI), and Natural Nagas came up with a two-yearplan for vigilance and enabling mindset change amongcommunities in Nagaland and Assam (Sinha 2013).1. Amur Falcon is a protected bird under the Indian

Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and Convention ofMigratory Species, of which India is a signatory. It islisted as a Least Concern species by the IUCN.

2. The Nagaland Wildlife & Biodiversity ConservationTrust (NWBCT), a Dimapur-based NGO, led acampaign with the support of the government as well

Participants of Friends of the Amur Falcon at the first Under The Canopy (UTC) training workshop in Sungro Range, August 2013

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as leading conservation NGOs. They have been intouch with various government officials as well ascommunity members since October 2012 on ways tostop the killings in 2013.

3. NWBCT started the ‘Friends of the AmurFalcon’ campaign with a conservation educationprogramme covering the important villages in Wokhadistrict. Responding to NWBCT’s advocacycampaign, church leaders and village councils alsoappealed to villagers not to hunt Amur Falcons.

4. Dr. Asad R. Rahmani, (Director, BNHS) called uponSmt. Jayanthi Natarajan, the then Minister forEnvironment & Forests, Govt of India, on October 31,2012, who intervened personally, and the Indian ForestDepartment and District Administration swung intoaction. The result was that nets were destroyed,captured birds were released, the sale of falcons wasstopped, and arrests were made (http://www.birdlife.org accessed on 30 May 2014).

5. The Chief Minister of Nagaland, Mr. Neiphiu Rio,expressed the state government’s commitment to endthe killing of migratory Amur Falcons on passage inNagaland. He also mentioned that it was their duty toprotect the Amur Falcons and, in true Naga traditionof hospitality, treat them as honoured and esteemedguests. This message was spread to the nearby villagesby the Forest Department through a publicitycampaign.

6. BNHS and BirdLife International supported the causeof conservation of Amur Falcons, which are our guests.BNHS wrote to Smt. Jayanthi Natarajan, the thenMinister for Environment and Forests, Government ofIndia.

7. Other NGOs including Wildlife Trust of India (WTI)and Natural Nagas have been very active in drawing upinnovative initiatives to prevent hunting of Amur Falcon.According to Steve Odyuo, Chairman of Natural Nagas,a series of awareness campaigns involving the churches,students, and village councils have been undertakenwith very positive results. A one-day awarenesscampaign on “Conservation of Amur Falcons” wasorganized on October 11, 2013 by the Pangti villagecouncil, supported by WTI, Natural Nagas, and theNagaland Department of Forests.

8. The awareness campaign included various events likescreening of wildlife films, illustrated talks on theactivities of the WTI, Natural Nagas, and the ForestDepartment, distribution of pamphlets, performancesby singers from Wokha and Kohima, putting up postersin and around the Amur Falcon feeding areas, andgetting feedback from the affected people, whichwould be targeted at all the age groups of the village.All the neighboring villages were invited to participatein the awareness campaign.

9. Awareness programme: Sungro Range Youth WelfareOrganization (SRYWO), in collaboration with the

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Mass killing of Amur Falcon upto 2013 and subsequent conservation action by the Forest Department, local andNational NGOs and villagers could be a game changer in Nagaland



Forest Department, Government of Nagalandorganized a one-day awareness programme on‘Conservation and safe passage of Amur falcons inNagaland’ on October 5, 2013 at Ashaa Village, DoyangHydro Electric Project (DHEP), Wokha.

10. On October 30, 2013 (and throughout the entiremigration period of Amur Falcon), it was reported thatthere have been absolutely no killings of these birds.This remarkable outcome has been the result of acomplete year of painstaking effort from the Nagalandgovernment (especially the Forest Department), manyNGOs, and most importantly, the local communitieswho were determined to end the killings.

11. The campaign is supported by conservation institutionslike the Wildlife Conservation Society, BirdlifeInternational, Raptor Research and ConservationFoundation, and Wildlife Conservation Trust.

INDIA AND CBDIndia, being a signatory to the Convention on Migratory

Species (CMS), is duty bound to prevent this massacre,provide safe passage, as well as draw up appropriate actionplans for the long-term conservation of Amur Falcons. Inthe recently concluded Convention on Biological Diversity(CBD), of which India is the President country for the nexttwo years, the importance of CMS in conserving species,and especially in stopping bushmeat hunting, was repeatedlystressed.

A SUCCESS STORYAs a result of the various campaigns, vigilance,

patrolling, and the cooperation and initiative taken by the

people of Nagaland, and an active Forest Department, nota single Amur Falcon was trapped during the 2013 autumnmigration (Sinha 2013). Attitudes have changed so much inthe space of a single year that the Amur Falcons are nowtreated, in the words of the Nagaland Chief Minister, as“esteemed guests”.

REFERENCESPeter, C. and Holman, D. (2001) Passage records of Amur Falcon

Falco amurensis from SE Asia and southern Africa includingfirst records from Ethiopia. Bulletin of the BritishOrnithologists’ Club 121(1) 222–230.

Sinha, N. (2013) Flight of the Falcon: Saving Amur Falcons. HornbillOctober-December: 6–9.

INTERNET SOURCEShttp://www.conservationindia.org/http://www.satellitetracking.eu/inds/showtablehttp://www.birdlife.org/asia/news/action-amur-falcons-

brings-hope-end-hunting-nagalandBirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet:

Falco amurensis. Downloaded from http:/www.birdlife.org on30/05/2014.

http://www.cms.int/en/project/conservation-amur-falcon-nagaland-and-along-its-migration-route as accessed on 30May 2014.

Raju Kasambe, Ph.D,Project Manager,IBA ProgrammeEmail: [email protected]

The BNHS and NWBCT team in Wokha village

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Department of Forests, Ecology,Environment and Wildlife,Government of Nagaland

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

...AND THE PEOPLE OF NAGALAND

BirdLife Hungary

Ministry of Environment and ForestsGovernment of India

Special thanks to Jim Lawrence and Mike Crosby of Preventing Extinction Programme ofBirdLife International and the various funders

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Documents

MISTNET April June 2014 Amur Falcon Special