Being a fairly conscientious reader of a couple of daily Indian newspapers, I was somewhat surprised to have missed a report in the Times of India last week (week # 45, 2014). Surprised and elated when it was later forwarded to me by a birding friend.
Here is a link to the article
http://www.toi.in/X6D7Ta
If you would rather not be bothered reading it, here is the essence of the story: two amur falcons that were fitted with satellite transmitters to track their annual migration had just returned to their staging point in Nagaland (eastern India) on 29th October 2014, almost a year later.
As I write this blog today, the two survivors (and perhaps the third falcon too, if the transmitter simply fell off and the bird survived) are now gathering their reserves and are poised to launch afresh into the most inspiring leg of their migratory routes.
Please click on any of the links below to see their actual migration tracking from November 2013...
Here is a link to the article
http://www.toi.in/X6D7Ta
If you would rather not be bothered reading it, here is the essence of the story: two amur falcons that were fitted with satellite transmitters to track their annual migration had just returned to their staging point in Nagaland (eastern India) on 29th October 2014, almost a year later.
As I write this blog today, the two survivors (and perhaps the third falcon too, if the transmitter simply fell off and the bird survived) are now gathering their reserves and are poised to launch afresh into the most inspiring leg of their migratory routes.
Please click on any of the links below to see their actual migration tracking from November 2013...
WOKHA: http://www.satellitetracking.eu/inds/showmap?check144=144
Again, if you haven't actually clicked to play any of the routes I'm not going to let you go that easily!
For a moment think of these little falcons, spared only recently an annual slaughter in Nagaland by conservation efforts. They launch into an almost non-stop day-night flight, crossing the Bay of Bengal before turning westwards and hurdling the Indian peninsula; and then the most gruelling leg from the western coast of India near Goa, across the Arabian Sea to make landfall on the Horn of Africa on the Somalian coast.
And if you have seen the tracking of the migration, then you would know that this is just a part of the full cycle.
Actually for a Indian birder like me the more interesting information revealed by the tracking is their return migration in Spring.
Amur Falcons, like several other bird species (European Rollers and Spotted Flycatchers to name just two others) are mainly observed on passage over India in Autumn. These migrants fly in from northern climes, track through India in autumn, and fly across the Indian Ocean to winter in Africa.
The puzzling thing is that many of these species are rarely seen over India in Spring when they are winging their separate ways back north. Or, if occasionally observed, their return routes appear to be quite different from their paths in autumn / winter.
This seems to be corroborated by the return migration data for Naga and Pangti, our itinerant falcons.
Similar data for a particular species of migrating dragonfly, the Wandering Glider (Pantala flavesense) appears to bear a striking similarity.
But let us leave these matters for experts and scientists to shed light on for us.
Instead I'm going to open the sat-tracking link to see whether Naga and Pangti have departed on their next adventure ...
sahdevsingh2004@yahoo.co.in
Again, if you haven't actually clicked to play any of the routes I'm not going to let you go that easily!
For a moment think of these little falcons, spared only recently an annual slaughter in Nagaland by conservation efforts. They launch into an almost non-stop day-night flight, crossing the Bay of Bengal before turning westwards and hurdling the Indian peninsula; and then the most gruelling leg from the western coast of India near Goa, across the Arabian Sea to make landfall on the Horn of Africa on the Somalian coast.
And if you have seen the tracking of the migration, then you would know that this is just a part of the full cycle.
Actually for a Indian birder like me the more interesting information revealed by the tracking is their return migration in Spring.
Amur Falcons, like several other bird species (European Rollers and Spotted Flycatchers to name just two others) are mainly observed on passage over India in Autumn. These migrants fly in from northern climes, track through India in autumn, and fly across the Indian Ocean to winter in Africa.
The puzzling thing is that many of these species are rarely seen over India in Spring when they are winging their separate ways back north. Or, if occasionally observed, their return routes appear to be quite different from their paths in autumn / winter.
This seems to be corroborated by the return migration data for Naga and Pangti, our itinerant falcons.
Similar data for a particular species of migrating dragonfly, the Wandering Glider (Pantala flavesense) appears to bear a striking similarity.
But let us leave these matters for experts and scientists to shed light on for us.
Instead I'm going to open the sat-tracking link to see whether Naga and Pangti have departed on their next adventure ...
sahdevsingh2004@yahoo.co.in
Fascinating stuff.
ReplyDeleteHow do you get the satellite tracking links?