By Salam Rajesh
Twenty-two thousand kilometers of seamless flight over the vast spread of the Asian continent, across the open water of the vast Arabian Sea, and further to the far south of the vast African continent, and then all the way back to East China. As easy as that!
This, in brief, is the mighty flight of a frail looking yet definitely strong and resilient raptor – the Amur Falcon (Falco amurensis). It packs its bags for the visa-free flight from its breeding grounds in the far corners of East China, and Siberia, and makes the transcontinental flight to its winter roosting grounds in southern Africa with stopovers in North East India – Nagaland and Manipur – to refuel!
Each year in mid October without fail, the natives of Tamenglong in Manipur awaits with much eagerness the return of these wintering winged visitors, with open arms and with much fanfare. Tamenglong is the western most district in Manipur, bordering Assam, and quite close to the Myanmarese border.
The Akhuaipuina, so lovingly christened by the Tamenglong natives, comes in their thousands to fill their bellies with the abundant termites that Tamenglong offers for them to feed, and rest, before their onward journey across the Indian mainland and the Arabian Sea.
The bamboo brakes alongside the Irang River, a tributary of the Barak River which ultimately drains into the mighty Brahmaputra River in Assam, are the favorite haunts of the falcons. More than a hundred thousands of the raptors usually take shelter here, feeding on the numerous termites milling around.
For Tamenglong, the raptor is synonymous with bountiful harvest, so much as its name ‘Akhuaipuina’ in the vernacular is transliterated as the ‘harbinger of plenty’. This resounds with the expectation that the falcons would devour the termites, rodents and other insects which otherwise would wreak havoc with their kitchen gardens, and their vegetable crops in the jhum fields.
As similarly as the Arctic Tern, another small but fascinating bird that makes one of the world’s longest transcontinental flight of 70,000 km from the Arctic to Antarctica, and back, on their annual migration, the Akhuaipuinas have drawn the attention of the global audience on the seemingly impossible flight across two continents and a sea in-between.
The falcons’ majestic flight catches the world’s attention specifically by their amazing non-stop flight without rest of up to six days as they leave the safety of the western coast of India to reach Somalia in northeastern Africa, gapping the vast open water of the Arabian Sea without a wink of sleep, literally speaking.
It truly is amazing that the frail looking bird can fly non-stop for six days without taking a single break for the entire stretch of the vast Arabian Sea. And how do they sleep, if they do sleep at all during this herculean sea voyage? Truly beyond words.
Not quite long back, the falcons were hunted by the thousands by the locals when they arrived in Tamenglong for their winter rest enroute to South Africa. Packs of the caught birds were sold openly in the local markets without anybody stepping in to halt the ‘massacre’.
The intervention of local volunteers and concerned wildlife and nature lovers based in Tamenglong by the mid 2010s finally brought a halt to the senseless killings. Tamenglong-based voluntary organization Rainforest Club Tamenglong led by its founder Dr Chambo Gonmei, and supported enthusiastically by the Tamenglong Forest Division personnel led by former Divisional Forest Officer Kharibam Hitler Singh, spearheaded the drive to save and protect the raptors from the man-slaughter.
Today, the Akhuaipuinas are more or less safe in their overnight stay at Tamenglong. The Tamenglong District Administration, too, has stepped in to safeguard the raptors during their stay, by issuing strict notification prohibiting poaching of the raptors with guns or by other means including trapping with nets and tree-based glue.
Tamenglong Forest Division, aided by Wildlife Institute of India scientist Dr Suresh Kumar, has since been following the flight of the raptors with information rallied from satellite radio transmitters attached to few tagged falcons.
The information archived has revealed the amazing journey of the Amur falcons. The picture of a massive effort at escaping the harsh winter of the Chinese, and Siberian, forbidding landscape to feed and rest in the warm sun of the African landscape is something people hardly can imagine, or believe, if not for the satellite data.
From the available information, it does appear that the falcons know exactly when and how to traverse the Arabian Sea, drifting along with the flow of the wind current. They perhaps grab a wink of sleep as they drift steadily along with the wind current. The food they fed in Tamenglong definitely helps them through their arduous non-stop flight across the sea for six days.
The Amur falcons now figure among the top avifauna protected by the Indian wildlife law – the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, amended many times since. Now categorized under Schedule-I of the Indian wildlife law, penalties are going to be rather harsh for those who dare to trap and kill the raptors either for meat or just for fun. Monetary penalty and terms in jail await those who dare to slay the Akhuaipuina.
The falcons also make a stopover in neighboring Nagaland, flocking in their thousands around Doyang reservoir, resting for a while and stocking up on their bellies as similarly as in Tamenglong before the kick-off to Africa.
So far, an initiative of wildlife lovers in North East India for the transboundary conservation of the falcons at both the national and global perspective has not materialized till date. The proposal was even brought up to the platform of the United Nations’ Convention on Migratory Species (CMS).
The need of the hour is for the Government, both in the State and at the Centre, to think of a long-term strategic action plan, and budgetary allocation, to support the grassroots activity in protecting the falcons and conserving the habitats that the falcons favor on their visit to North East India.
At the same time, there has to be concentrated effort at featuring the Akhuaipuina in global perspective of an avifauna that exceeds all description of the mundane world.
This year, as in the past years, Tamenglong is welcoming the Akhuaipuina with open arms on Saturday (17 October) featuring talks, and folk dance and songs dedicated to the falcons.
