Nagaland death trap for migrating birds of prey

SLAUGHTER  SEASON

FOR THE AMUR FALCON

Migrating Amur falcons are being slaughtered by the thousands in the remote state of Nagaland in north-east India, a vital stopover region on their epic journey from Siberia to their winter refuge in Africa. According to conservationists in India, October is the month in which between 120,000 and 140,000 of these protected birds are caught, killed and consumed every year. Last month’s kill was caught on video by the wildlife and nature conservation group Conservation India.

The shocking Nagaland massacre of 12,000 to 14,000  Amur falcons per 
day October 2012. Video courtesy of  Conservation India.

The full story can be read at Conservation India’s website here. According to The National Geographic, Nagaland witnesses “the largest congregations of these falcons along their vast migration route from Siberia through the Himalayas and all the way down to Somalia, Kenya and South Africa. They cover over 22,000 kilometres every year and undertake the largest sea crossing of any raptor when crossing the Indian Ocean to Africa – including several nights of flying in the dark.”

Click here to view more pictures of the Nagaland massacre

(WARNING: Some of the pictures in the pdf above may be considered too gruesome and may even cause distress.)

In spite of undertakings by the Indian government to stop the massacre, “nothing seems to be happening,” says Steve Boyes of National Geographic Expeditions. India is a signatory to the Convention of Migratory Species, an international agreement to protect migrating birds, and is  President of the Convention on Biological Diversity for the next two years.

The pressure for a solution to the global slaughter of migrating birds is mounting though, but problems facing government authorities seem far from being resolved. Nagaland is not the only place where migrating birds are fair game. The killing is rampant in China, Cyprus, Barbados, Malta and even  the U.S.

See:

• The bird hunting business in China’s Hunan province: HERE
• Over 866,000 birds slaughtered so far this autumn in Cyprus: HERE
• Annual Slaughter of Migrating Waders on Barbados: HERE
• Bloody sport in Pakistan: The killing of the Houbara bustard: HERE 
• And in the US…the crackdown on the disastrous free-for-all hunting that caused the extinctions of the Labrador Duck, Great Auk, Passenger Pigeon, Eskimo Curlew and Heath Hen, and the near extinction of many others: HERE  
• In Malta, nothing is safe -- swallows, swifts, ospreys, marsh harriers,  honey buzzards, turtle doves…all are fair game: HERE

Amur Falcon (Eastern Red-footed Falcon), Falco amurensis, cernícalo del Amur, xoriguer de l'Amur, Amurfalke, Faucon de l'Amour

Rousing Send-off for Raptors

Unfazed by all  the attention...Buteo the Buzzard, now weighing a healthy 835g  (Picture: Abul Fazil)

A buzzard and two more kestrels were seen off last week, this time with a fair bit of fanfare at a World Bird Day celebration in a small Catalonian  town in the Valles Oriental (Eastern Valley) county.
Some 300 bird lovers, more than half of them children, turned up at the event at Can Font park in  Santa Eulalia de Ronçana (pop. 7000). For most of them, it was the first time seeing raptors up close. And the presence of a Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) heightened the excitement even for the seasoned birders among the spectators.  Forest rangers found the juvenile grounded in the vicinity of Barcelona airport some six months ago. It was injured, emaciated and its plumage was in a bad state. The buzzard was taken to the Torreferrussa Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre near Barcelona where it remained till fully recovered. 

       Video shows Parus bird-ringer Angel Fernandez setting the buzzard free, with Catalan 
Ornithological Institute staffer Anna Dalmau giving a running commentary.

Europe’s second most common raptor (Common Kestrels being the most common), the buzzard would relish its new habitat, which abounds not only with its favourite prey, rabbits, but also with voles, young birds and small reptiles.

Tailing the buzzard in its freedom flight were the pair of Common Kestrels (Falco tinnunculus). One arrived at the Torreferrussa centre four months ago as a weak and undernourished fledgling. Forest rangers had rescued it from a factory building in Alt Penedes, a county in Central Catalonia. The other, a juvenile, was brought in, suffering from an injured beak and deteriorating plumage, by a vet in Tarragona in South Catalonia three months ago. They weighed 165g and 185g respectively when they were pronounced fit for life in the wild last week.

Parus bird-ringer Frederic Sanchez (right) with the first Kestrel,  whille ornithologist Roger Sanmarti hangs  on to the other one – Picture by Abul Fazil

 

Video shows  Frederic  releasing his kestrel. Minutes later  GOT's Roger lets  the second go. 
Running commentary by ICO ornithologist Anna Dalmau

First stop -- the highest spot around.  No better place for Frederic’s kestrel to survey the scenario than  the topmost point on  this fir tree:  Picture by GOT birder Ernest Ramos

The raptors’ freedom flight was the highlight of a full morning’s programme which kicked off with a bird walk through the wooded banks of the River Tenes,  followed by several bird ringing sessions, a hands-on tutorial on nestbox construction, an exhibition of custom-built nestboxes,  and bird-table and kidcraft workshops --a complete birding experience organised by GOT with the collaboration of bird-banding group PARUS, the Consortium for the Defence of the Besos River Basin, the Natural Science Museum of county-capital Granollers, and the local Town Hall.

Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo), Ratonero común, aligot comú, Bussarde, Buse variable
Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus), Cernícalo Vulgar, Xoriguer comú, Turmfalke, Faucon crécerelle

Report by Abul Fazil