Journal of Threatened
Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 March 2024 | 16(3): 24967–24972
ISSN 0974-7907
(Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8574.16.3.24967-24972
#8574 | Received 06 June 2023 | Final received 10 January 2024| Finally
accepted 25 February 2024
D’Ering Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary, a
significant flyway and a preferred stopover (refuelling)
site during the return migration of the Amur Falcon Falco amurensis (Radde, 1863)
Tapak Tamir 1, Abprez Thungwon Kimsing 2 & Daniel Mize 3
1,3 Ecology and Wildlife Biology
Unit, Department of Zoology, Rajiv Gandhi University, Rono
Hills, Doimukh,
Arunachal Pradesh 791112, India.
2 Department of Zoology, Himalayan
University, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh 791111,
India.
1 tapaktamir86@gmail.com, 2
abprez143@gmail.com, 3 mizezoology@yahoo.co.in (corresponding
author)
Editor: Anonymity requested. Date of
publication: 26 March 2024 (online & print)
Citation: Tamir,
T., A.T. Kimsing & D. Mize (2024). D’Ering Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary, a significant flyway
and a preferred stopover (refuelling) site during the return migration of the
Amur Falcon Falco amurensis (Radde, 1863). Journal of
Threatened Taxa 16(3):
24967–24972. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8574.16.3.24967-24972
Copyright: © Tamir et al. 2024. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License. JoTT
allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any
medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of
publication.
Funding: Rajiv Gandhi University, Rono Hills Doimukh, Arunachal Pradesh-791112.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Author details: Dr. Tapak Tamir is currently working as a guest faculty member at the North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST), Nirjuli. His research interests include bird population censuses, ecology, species distribution patterns, and studying various disease trends in human populations. Dr. Abprez Thungwon Kimsing is a guest faculty member at the Himalayan University, Jullang, Itanagar, with an interest in the ecology and distribution of avian and mammal diversity in Arunachal Pradesh. Dr. Daniel Mize is an associate professor with a specialisation in birdlife, wildlife status, and conservation issues, with an interest in education and awareness needed to protect wildlife.
Author contributions: TT did the field survey, data collection, and manuscript preparation. AKT managed the preparation of maps using GIS and GBIF data, while DM supervised the data analysis and provided important inputs for the study. All three authors contributed to the writing of the manuscript.
Acknowledgements: We thank the director and PCCF Arunachal
Pradesh for all the necessary permission and Shri Tasang
Taga, DFO DEMWS, for providing the necessary facility
to carry out this work. We also thank the dean and head of the Department of
Zoology at Rajiv Gandhi University for giving us station leave permission
during the field study for this research work. Special thanks to Mr. Tameng Noram for the corrections
and proofreading of the Adi abstract.
Abstract: This communication reports the
repeated sighting records of the Amur Falcon Falco amurensis
with photographic evidence in the D’Ering Memorial
Wildlife Sanctuary (DEMWS) of Arunachal Pradesh during the summer. Though there
are many sighting reports of the Amur Falcon from many places in India, all are
onward journeys (October and November). Hence, not only the repeated sighting
of the Amur Falcon but also its sighting during the month of May in DEMWS is
the record of its kind. This is significant information for ornithologists, as
the recent sighting in the sanctuary is the second record of this raptor during
the summer in the state, which also demonstrated that DEMWS is a significant
flyway and a preferred stopover or refuelling site
during the return migration of this raptor towards their breeding grounds.
Keywords: Arunachal Pradesh, breeding
ground, DEMWS, East Siang, Longding, Niausa, northeastern India, Pasighat,
raptors, trans-equatorial migrant
Adi abstract: Si lukan
lutom namsí kapang yarnam Pémí
Píong Falcon amurensis
ém lobo todí lo Bomong kíbung Gíté
lok Daying Ering me Mípangpe Simon-sili Dumsukeng (DEMSD) lo mimang kíng saki
pe latbom dola lukan binam
é. India solo sim Pémí Píong
sim kapang ém lukan namé deddiné
idokom takam si déngun ko
mílí eke (Yite delokke Disang polo). Delok legape Pemí
Píong em kapang yarnam petom
mang, delok leko-leko pe Lukíng
polo lo DEMSD lo kapang namsi
atíkon pe ina donggenyana kope idung. Pettang
mikín legape si kenyek rupe
kengap penam kope idung, legang
de Dumsukeng solok kapang tunam petom
si Gítekone solo Pemí sok lobo todí
lok donggen kope idung, si
seke pekom lengkan bidung DEMSD si gairuna pettang
détak ko delokke si biakgé-biakkur
na Pemí kídí
solok apí píko gídang pe
biaklat sidak kuem mibang runam
nottí kope lang dengge nana alang píten silíkko
motet kope idung.
Introduction
The Amur Falcon Falco amurensis, also known as the Eastern Red-Footed Falcon,
is a sexually dimorphic small bird of prey in the family Falconidae
of the order Falconiformes. The species has a red to
pale orange cere, eye ring, legs, and feet in all
plumages, with an overall size of 28–31 cm from bill to tail. The males are
dark grey with rufous thighs and undertail coverts
and white underwing coverts. Typical features of females include dark grey
upperparts, a short moustachial stripe, whitish
underparts with dark spotting and barring, and orange-buff thighs and undertail coverts (Grimmett et
al. 2011). The Amur Falcon is a long-distance, trans-equatorial migrant (Bildstein 2006) that migrates across three flyways, namely,
the East Asia/East Africa Flyway, the Central Asian Flyway, and the East
Asia/Australasia Flyway (BirdLife International
2015). The breeding range is currently restricted to northeastern China,
southeastern Russia, North Korea, and eastern Mongolia (Corso & Catley 2003). Amur Falcons typically prefer temperate
grassland, temperate forest, and inland wetland as breeding habitats (BirdLife International 2023). The available literature has
shown that Amur Falcons depart from their Asian breeding range usually in the
month of October, refuel at many stopovers before ultimately arriving at their
wintering sites like Eswatini (BirdLife
International 2023), Angola (Pinto 1983), Botswana (Penry 1994), Africa (Bildstein et al. 2000; Bildstein
2006; Darren & Craig 2010), Lesotho (Kopij 2012),
Mozambique (Symes & Woodborne
2010), Namibia (Symes & Woodborne
2010), South Africa (Clement & Holman 2001; Bildstein
2006; Symes & Woodborne
2010), Zambia (Dowsett et al. 2008; Symes & Woodborne 2010), and
Zimbabwe (Irwin 1981; Symes & Woodborne
2010). Northeastern India is one of the stopover sites to prepare for an
arduous journey across the Indian mainland, Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean
(Ali & Ripley 1987; Naoroji 2011) before arriving
at the African continent (Clement & Holman 2001; Bildstein
2006).
Although D’Ering
Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh is a well-known important bird
area (IBA), there has been relatively little ornithological research on it, as
a review of the ornithological work indicated that reports and literature on
the birds of this sanctuary are scarce. Additionally, there are no detailed
reports of Amur Falcons from this sanctuary except a photographic record of one
individual nine years ago with limited details (Dhar 2013), which indicates no
proper scientific documentation of this species in the sanctuary. Hence, we
conducted a study to evaluate avian diversity and seasonal changes of avifaunal
species and assess threatened species in the sanctuary. The present paper is
part of the study in which we report the repeated summer record of Amur Falcons
Falco amurensis to promote protection of the
bird as well as avian tourism in the area.
Materials
and Methods
Study site
The study was
conducted in the D’Ering Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary
(Image 1), hereinafter DEMWS, located in the East Siang district of Arunachal
Pradesh, 13 km away from the district headquarter, Pasighat.
It has coordinates of 27.850–28.083 N and 95.366–95.483 E, an elevation range
of 135–140 m, and covers an area of 190 km2. The sanctuary is mostly
grassland (80% of the total area), and the rest is riverine forests and patches
of sub-tropical forests. DEMWS falls under Indo-Malayan Biogeographic zone
along with rest of the north eastern region of India.
Methods
The modified
line transects method (Bibby et al. 2000) was used during the bird surveys;
observation was done at 0500–1000 h and 1500–1800 h in the afternoon. Using a
Garmin GPS (geographic positioning system) device, the locations of sightings
were recorded and marked. Birds were properly identified following the field
guides of Grimmet et al. (2011) and Arlott (2015). A Nikon D5200 fitted with a Sigma 150–600 mm
telephoto lens was used to capture photos of birds as part of a routine
procedure.
Results
On 14 May 2021, while surveying
for avian diversity and seasonal changes in the Jeepghat
Range of DEMWS (Image 1), the team came across a pair of raptors at 27.8559˚N,
95.4217˚E and 27.8554˚N, 95.4205˚E coordinates, roosting in a Silk Cotton tree Bombax
ceiba (Image 2). Later on, it was identified as a pair of Amur Falcons.
Subsequently, the team surveyed the same area on 16 May 2021, to confirm the
occurrence of the Amur Falcon at the site. Following this, the team
subsequently spotted a flock of Amur Falcons, consisting of nine males and 15
females, sitting on a Candahar tree Gmelina
arborea, in the same area. Again, the team
captured images of the birds to substantiate the sighting (Image 3).
Thereafter, the bird was sighted in the same area for around a week. The surrounding
habitat types where the species were spotted were open grassland with scattered
trees and shrubs (Image 4). Recently, on 09 May 2023, while surveying in the Anchalghat near Jeepghat range of
the sanctuary at 27.8557˚N & 95.3848˚E coordinates, a total of 28 Amur
Falcons were sighted hovering over the sky.
Discussion
In northeastern India, there are
reports of sightings at Krungming Reserve Forest, Khorongma and Kopili-Umrangsu
Reservoirs, Habang, Karbi Anglong District in Assam, Doyang
reservoirs and Pangti forest in Nagaland, and Dailong Rongku forest in Manipur
(BirdLife International 2022). The first ever
sighting of an Amur Falcon in Arunachal Pradesh was reported in October 1992 in
Naharlagun (Singh 1995). Thereafter, it was
completely unknown about further sightings in the same area. In November 2020,
a flock of Amur Falcons in good numbers in flight was reported, and a killed
specimen at the market was spotted at Niausa Village
in the Longding District of Arunachal Pradesh (Echo
of Arunachal, 2020), approximately 200 km from the Doyang
stopover site in Nagaland. Other recent records of this species in India
include Madhya Pradesh (Naoroji 2011), Gujarat (Ganpule 2011), Uttar Pradesh (Bhargava et al. 2014),
Chhattisgarh (Dutta 2016), and various unpublished sighting records are
available in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF, 2023). Various
published and unpublished sighting locations of the Amur Falcon Falco amurensis are presented in Image 5. The published
sighting records of the Amur Falcon at all the aforementioned sites in the
north-east and other parts of India occurred during the month of November,
i.e., winter. It is therefore likely that all sites are stopover or refuelling sites for the onward leg of the journey.
Similarly, there are a few unpublished sighting reports of the Amur Falcon from
several places in the Longding district of Arunachal
Pradesh, all of which occurred during October and November, i.e., during the
winter season (Northeast Now 2022). Hence, not only the repeated sighting of
the Amur Falcon but also a sighting during the month of May in DEMWS is a
record of its kind, as there is no earlier report in the month of May in
Arunachal Pradesh.
Although this raptor has been
classified as ‘Least Concern’ due to their large population size and vast
range, because of their flocking behaviour during
migration and the density at which it occurs, they are vulnerable to hunting
and extremely high levels of persecution along their migration routes (BirdLife International 2023). Despite efforts to enforce
strict measures to prevent the hunting of amur falcons, illegal hunting of
these raptors continues to take place in certain areas of northeastern India.
For instance, recent reports of some people engaged in the illegal practice of
hunting these birds by using catapults in certain areas of the Wokha district of Nagaland (Nagaland Post 2023). Also,
there was a report circulated on social media (WhatsApp) recently that some
roasted Amur Falcons were being sold in Longding
Market. This is concerning for the conservation of this bird. Most of these
hunters belong to economically backward and uneducated villagers; therefore, it
is of utmost importance to educate these villagers with frequent awareness programmes. It is also essential to identify and develop
the areas where these migratory birds rest during their journey as tourist
spots, which would attract tourists, especially wildlife enthusiasts.
Therefore, as DEMWS is a protected area, it will be a safe stopover site as
human disturbances are lower than in other north-eastern migratory routes such
as the Doyang roosting site in Nagaland (Dalvi et al.
2013) and Manipur (Sharma 2018). Moreover, most parts of DEMWS are grasslands;
they support various insects for this insectivorous raptor, like Caelifera (grasshoppers), Ensifera
(crickets), and Coleoptera (beetles). Thus, DEMWS may
be a significant flyway for this migratory species and a preferred stopover or refuelling site in the future. Therefore, the present paper
is an attempt to report the repeated summer record and to highlight DEMWS as
likely one of the important stopover sites during the backward journey from the
wintering grounds of this migratory raptor to promote protection of the bird as
well as avian tourism in the area.
Conclusions
The presented report is the
substantiated record of the Amur Falcon Falco amurensis,
with photographic evidence in the DEMWS of Arunachal Pradesh during May, i.e.,
the summer season, the time for the backward journey of this migratory raptor
from its wintering place to its breeding ground. It is significant information
for ornithologists, as the recent sighting in the sanctuary is the second well
documented records of the raptor during the summer in the state. Though there
are many sighting reports of the Amur Falcon from many places in India, all are
onward journeys (October and November). Hence, not only the repeated sighting
of the Amur Falcon but also its sighting during the month of May in DEMWS is
the record of its kind.
For
images - - click here for full PDF
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