Two geo-tagged Amur falcons returned to Tamenglong in Manipur on Thursday after completing an annual migratory cycle across 23 countries in Asia and Africa.
In a statement issued on Friday, the divisional forest officer of Tamenglong described the development as an “encouraging milestone” in the ongoing Amur Falcon Conservation Project.
The two falcons, named Alang and Apapang, were geo-tagged in November 2025 at the Chiuluan roosting site in Tamenglong district.
Amur falcons are pigeon-sized migratory birds weighing between 95g and 188g. They originate in Siberia and northern China, where they breed during the summer. At the onset of winter, they make major stopovers in Nagaland, Manipur and Assam, arriving between mid-October and early November. They rest and feed at these sites for about three weeks to build up fat reserves before embarking on a non-stop journey across the Indian Ocean to southern Africa, where they spend the winter months.
The successful return of Alang and Apapang highlights the importance of scientific research, satellite tracking, sustained monitoring and community participation in wildlife conservation. It also underscores Tamenglong’s growing recognition as a significant landscape for Amur falcon conservation, the official statement said.
The geo-tagging of Amur falcons, initiated in Nagaland in 2013 by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the Union forest ministry, was gradually extended to neighbouring Manipur in 2019.
Known for their annual round-trip migration covering between 20,000 and 30,000km, the birds travel between their breeding grounds in eastern Asia and non-breeding grounds in southern Africa, passing through India along the way. The species also plays an important ecological role by feeding on insects.
In an X post on Friday, Union environment, forest and climate change minister Bhupender Yadav said: “A journey to India through 23 countries! Having started from their breeding areas in northeastern China 11 days ago, the two Amur falcons Apapang and Alang arrived in Manipur yesterday. This marks the successful completion of their nearly year-long tracking and also their round-trip journey back to Manipur since tagging by scientists of WII in November 2025; travelling through 23 countries on their journey across Africa and Asia, the Amur falcons are truly global citizens.”
The two falcons are expected to make a two-to-three-week stopover at select sites in Tamenglong, Yadav said.
Feeding on termites emerging in and around their stopover sites, the falcons will build up the fat reserves crucial for the next leg of their migration: a six-day, non-stop flight of nearly 6,000 km from Manipur to Somalia, including a 3,000-km crossing of the Arabian Sea, the minister said.
Amur falcons were once hunted for their meat, but the situation has changed in Manipur and Nagaland following the launch of conservation efforts in 2015, including the Amur Falcon Festival, a forest official said. Before 2015, a falcon would fetch around ₹30-40.