The Amur falcon, radio-tagged from Manipur, completed a remarkable non-stop flight of 4,700 km from Somalia to central India in just 95 hours, crossing the Arabian Sea without stopping, officials said.
The ababang, an adult male Amur falcon (Falco amurensis) tagged in the Tamenglong district, ended its continuous journey on Monday, said Dr Suresh Kumar of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in Dehradun, who has been tracking its migration route, along with former forest officer of the forest department, K. Hitler, of the Tamenglong Forest Division.
“Ababang completed its non-stop flight on Monday,” Kumar said. “According to its record, Ababang made a non-stop flight from its terminal in Somalia for a distance of approximately 4,750 kilometers within 95 hours.”
Three satellite-tagged Amur hawks – ababang, ahu and alang – named after a roosting site and the Barak and Irang Rivers in Tamenglong District, began their migratory journey after they were tagged with satellite transmitters in Qioloan village on November 11, 2025. Abaang is an adult male, while ahu and alang are females.
“Since Sunday night, Ababang has continued its non-stop journey for another 450 km, flying over the Vindhyas Islands and stopping for the first time since leaving Somalia at 9.30 pm on Monday near the Soni River, about 120 km south of Varanasi,” Kumar said.
He added: “After an hour’s rest, Ababang set off on her journey, covering another 200 kilometers to reach a hilly forest, about 60 kilometers southwest of the holy city of Gaya, to stop for the night.”
Officials noted that during its migration in November last year, Ababang had already completed a 6,100-kilometre non-stop journey to Kenya in just under a week, and also crossed the Arabian Sea.
The other two falcons, the Aho and the Alang, are still in Somalia, according to the latest satellite data.
The Tameng Long Forest Department started the radio tagging program in November 2018 to aid conservation efforts in the hill area.
Amur hawks, known locally as Akhuaipuina (Taomuanpui), are protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972. They breed in southeastern Russia and northeastern China and migrate to their wintering grounds in southern Africa, returning via Afghanistan and eastern Asia.
These pigeon-sized birds of prey make an annual journey of about 20,000 kilometres, arriving in large numbers in Nagaland and Manipur in October before departing in November after feeding enough for their long non-stop journey to Africa.
