Migratory birds from Siberia and China in their migrate to their wintering grounds in South Africa started arriving in Manipur’s Tamenglong district, official sources said on Saturday. Manipur government imposed a ban on trapping, killing, and selling of Amur falcon a pigeon-sized bird, and directed all the licenses of the airgun holders to deposit their guns at the concerned officials.

The District Commissioner of the Tamenglong in order states that the government has taken up precautionary measures against being hunted down and killed by the poachers of these migratory birds during their sojourn in Manipur’s Tamenglong district in the winter seasons.

Amur falcon breeds in south-eastern Siberia and Northern China before migrating in large flocks across north-eastern India and over the Arabian Sea to winter in Southern and East African coasts.

The Amur falcons spend their summers at their breeding grounds in southeast Russia and northern China. They migrate to their wintering grounds in South Africa, from where they start their return journey in April-May, undertaking a yearly journey of about 20,000 km. In between, they stop in India’s northeastern states. In their journey, these pigeon-sized birds arrive in large numbers during October in Nagaland and Manipur besides a few places in the northeast.

They leave the region in November after having enough food for their non-stop flight to Africa where they spend their winters. Notably, the satellite-tagged female Amur falcon known as Longleng, which flew non-stop to reach Somalia in November in 2018, has returned to India—on her way to a breeding area in northern China—a Wildlife Institute of India (WII) scientist said.

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