Ahead of congregation of Amur falcons (Falco Amurensis), a month-long awareness campaign for protecting the winged guests was held at Khangchiulon village in Manipur’s Tamenglong on Monday.
The programme was organised by Rainforest Club Tamenglong (RFC), a non-profit organization.
RFC was formed by a group of volunteers who thrive for a better Tamenglong by engaging themselves in various social activities and campaigns relating to conservation of environment and wildlife in the district under the aegis of Tamenglong Forest Division.
Scientist (E) Dr Suresh Kumar of Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun; Kh Hitler, range forest officer, Tamenglong; BG Thuanku, chairman, Khangchiulon village; Gaisui, president of RCF, members, village authority members and researchers were present at the event.
Also read: Amur Falcon Festival held in Manipur
WII team has been camping in Tamenglong district since the last four days to radio-tag five Amur falcons once the birds begin to roost in the western district of Manipur as part of their conservation strategies in collaboration with the locals and forest officials.
Many resource persons deliberated about the benefit of Amur falcon as bio-pest controller adding that Amur falcon is not a species of one country.
They migrate every year from its breeding ground in China by travelling 22,000 km covering Russia, Mongolia, China, Myanmar, Somalia and other South African countries.
The northeastern states of Nagaland and Manipur become an internationally important stop-over site for at least a million Amur falcons annually.
India is a signatory of Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) pledging to protect all migratory birds.
In March, 2016, India had signed the CMS Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Birds of Prey in Africa and Eurasia (Raptors MoU) raising the number of signatories to 56, according to reports.
Over 50 species of migratory raptors listed in the Raptors MoU are seen in India.
During the day’s awareness programme, some of the villagers requested the authority to support their livelihood.
They also demanded banning of sale of air guns and its bullets first complete protection falcons from air guns.
Earlier, the village authority had banned air guns in their village for protection of Amur falcons.
The meeting discussed about setting aside some forested area for Amur falcon conservation reserve as well.