An Amur falcon silently flew over the temple city of Tirupati in the early hours of May 1, 2020. But for the radio-tagging, it would have passed by unnoticed.
Amur falcon is a small bird of prey weighing 200 grams and known for long-distance migration.
Named as ‘Longleng’ after a district in Nagaland, this bird was radio-tagged in October 2016 to understand its migratory routes.
Long-distance trips
Since then, it has clocked a little over 80,000 km in migration for eight long-distance trips between its breeding grounds in East Asia and winter roosting grounds in South Africa, given that the trans-equatorial distance per trip is nearly 10,000 km.
It was in 2012 that the bird watching community took note of the large-scale massacre of this species for its meat in Nagaland, a favourite stopover in its migration.
The North-Eastern States of Assam, Manipur and Nagaland were found to have multiple locations where the birds congregate in huge numbers.
Scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehra Dun, the Conservation of Migratory Birds of Prey in Africa and Eurasia (Raptors MOU), and the Nagaland Forest Department had installed radio-tracking devices on some birds, which brought interesting insights into their migratory pattern.
‘Longleng’ flew non-stop from the Oman coast to Ballari (Karnataka) in 94 hours, covering a mind-boggling distance of 3,800 km at a speed of 40 km/hr.
When WII scientist Suresh Kumar observed a skew in its flight path towards the Kolli Hills (Tamil Nadu), the birdwatchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Tirupati, predicted its trajectory over Tirupati.
“We were excited to find it flying over Renigunta on the city’s outskirts,” IISER’s Citizen Science coordinator Raja Sekhar told The Hindu .
Breeding ground
On May 14, Longleng had reached a nesting site 500 km north of Beijing, which it visited in the last three years, while several thousands reached their breeding grounds in China’s Inner Mongolia region.
Though ‘Longleng’ flew past Tirupati, the possibility of the bird’s stopover here in the future is not ruled out. Records show that the bird had left its footprint in Pulicat lake in Machilipatnam and Visakhapatnam.
Similarly, the vast Seshachalam forest around Tirupati hosts a variety of migratory birds every year. IISER’s Citizen Science wing facilitates regular guided bird walks for denizens to understand the winged splendour.
