In Nagaland, foes turn friends for migrating Amur Falcons

The Amur Falcon (Falco amurensis) has one of the longest migration routes among all birds – it clocks up to 22,000 km a year from eastern Asia to southern Africa and back. Most of this migration is done at night over the sea – unusual and unique traits for a bird of its size.In October 2012, a team of conservation NGOs and wildlife photographers unearthed and documented (see Conservation India) the shocking massacre of tens of thousands of migratory Amur Falcons in the remote state of Nagaland in India’s northeast. Post reporting of this incident, and the subsequent national and international outcry, a lot of conservation projects were initiated in Nagaland. The Government of Nagaland, at every level, was fully committed to end the killings and geared to face the next season. The local community as well as NGOs assisted the government officials on the ground.

In a spectacular turnaround, the scene of 2012’s mass killings revealed a peaceful haven for tens of thousands of the very same birds, congregating in a stopover during their annual migration through the state.

Credit for this astonishing conservation outcome should go to the painstaking effort of the Nagaland government, local NGOs, as well as the local communities who rose gracefully to occasion and swore to end the killings by becoming ‘Friends of the Amur Falcon’.