Nagaland to undertake first bird count

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Nagaland is undertaking the first avian documentation exercise to go beyond Amur falcons, the migratory raptor that put the State on the world birding map.

• The event is a collaboration among the Wokha Forest Division, the Divisional Management Unit of the Nagaland Forest Management Project (NFMP) and Bird Count India.
• Amur falcons put Nagaland on the world birding map. 
• However, the communities here can do more than just Amur falcon conservation. 
• The TEBC is the first of initiatives where the community is encouraged to celebrate the festival with birds.

Amur Falcon

• Amur falcons(Falco amurensis) are the world’s longest travelling migratory raptors.
• They migrate annually during winter from their breeding grounds in Mongolia, South-east Russia and northern China to warmer South Africa through India and across the Arabian Sea.
• Doyang Lake in Nagaland is known as a stopover for the Amur falcons during their annual migration.
• IUCN Status: Least Concern
• It is also protected under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and the Convention on Migratory Species(CMS) to which India is a signatory.
• Nagaland Government organises Amur Falcon festival to spread awareness about the need to provide safe passage to Amur falcons.

Illegal Trade and Hunting 

• An estimated one lakh Amur Falcons were trapped and killed by villagers for the commercial meat trade in different years.
• Both the trade and the appetite for the Amur falcon seem to be growing: while some birds were transported in trucks for sale in places far from the trapping spot, others were discarded, simply because too many had been caught.
• According to conservation India , each bird is sold for a price between Rs. 16-25 (always sold as number of birds for Rs. 100 ($ 1.9 / £ 1.2).
• This sale usually happens door-to-door in Pangti village (where most hunters are from) as well as nearby Doyang and Wokha towns. Hunters (and sellers) know that Amur killing is illegal and banned by the Deputy Commissioner (Wokha district) since 2010.