Eleven days out of northeastern China, two Amur Falcons have touched down in Manipur — completing a near-yearlong tracking odyssey across 23 countries and two continents. Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav announced on Friday, October 23 that the falcons, named Apapang and Alang, have arrived back at their stopover grounds in Tamenglong district, closing the loop on a round-trip journey that began with satellite tagging by scientists of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in November 2025.

From China to Manipur: The Route That Crosses Continents

The two falcons departed their breeding grounds in northeastern China and made their way southwest across Asia and Africa before reversing course toward India. Their tracked route spanned 23 countries — a corridor that makes the Amur Falcon one of the most far-ranging migratory raptors on the planet. As Minister Yadav put it, the birds are 'truly global citizens.'

The WII-led satellite telemetry effort, part of India's expanding programme to document long-distance avian migrants, has provided one of the most detailed records yet of the species' full annual circuit. India's participation in such tracking aligns with its commitments under the Convention on Migratory Species and broader flyway-conservation cooperation across the Asian-African corridor.

Tamenglong's Two-Week Feast — and Why It Matters

For the next two to three weeks, Apapang and Alang are expected to linger in the mountainous tracts of Tamenglong district, gorging on termites that emerge around their traditional roost sites. That feeding binge is not incidental — it is physiologically essential. The fat reserves accumulated here will fuel the falcons' most gruelling leg: a six-day, nonstop flight of nearly 6,000 km from Manipur to Somalia, a journey that includes a punishing 3,000 km crossing of the Arabian Sea with nowhere to land.

Miss the refuelling stop, and the bird does not survive the crossing. Which is precisely why the community protection model at Tamenglong — built over more than a decade — carries outsized conservation stakes.

How a Hunting Ground Became a Guardian Community

The transformation of Manipur and neighbouring Nagaland from sites of large-scale falcon hunting into models of community stewardship is one of Indian conservation's more striking turnarounds. Since the early 2010s, local communities have shifted from harvesting Amur Falcons in bulk — historical accounts describe tens of thousands killed annually at roost sites — to actively protecting them. Today, Minister Yadav notes, 'local people now eagerly wait for their return year after year and protect the falcons.'

That social contract, combining WII's scientific rigour with grassroots guardianship, is increasingly cited as a replicable model for migratory-species conservation across India's northeastern flyway.

What Researchers Will Watch Next

With the Tamenglong stopover under way, WII scientists will monitor whether Apapang and Alang depart on schedule for Somalia and whether their satellite tags continue to transmit across the Arabian Sea crossing — the most data-sparse and ecologically critical segment of the entire route. Any new central or state conservation notifications for Manipur's Amur Falcon stopover habitats are also expected to follow the heightened attention this tracking cycle has generated.

Two small birds, a continent-wide arc, and a community standing watch in the hills of Manipur. The next transmission from over the Arabian Sea will tell us whether the gamble paid off.