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By Invitation: The Amur Falcons


Written by Mike Cadman

One recent Sunday morning more than 100 small birds of prey hovered head-first into the wind as they hunted insects in the lush summer grasslands of the Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve some 40 kilometres south of Johannesburg.

The 30 cm long Amur falcons skilfully used the wind to maintain their positions about 20 metres above the ground, heads down as they searched the grass for prey. Some occasionally slipped into rapid dives as they plunged into the tall grass after prey, which is usually caught and eaten on the wing, while others banked away, darting downwind to begin searching another patch of the veld.

Away to the west of the birds cyclists and day trippers in cars travelled along the Reserve’s tourist roads, some aware, many not, of the little birds of prey.

Of those that noticed the birds few realized that they were witnessing birds that had only recently completed one of the most astonishing and longest migrations of any bird of prey. Every year, at the start of the northern winter the birds leave their breeding grounds in eastern Asia, fly across the southern face of the Himalayas, pass over northern India and then fly across three thousand kilometres of Indian Ocean to Somalia before heading south to the grasslands of Southern Africa. Here the birds spend several months feeding on prolific insect populations before starting the return journey in mid to late April.

The Amur falcons, formerly known in South Africa as the Eastern red-footed kestrel, undertake the longest trans-ocean migration of any bird of prey. The birds, males average about 136 grams and females 148 grams, complete the trans-ocean journey in about three days, an astounding accomplishment.

Their already arduous migration is made even more difficult by the fact that along some parts of the world they are eaten by people. This year the conservation world was shocked by the revelation by Conservation India that more than 120 000 – 140 000 of the birds had been caught and eaten in Nagaland, northern India. Conservation Indian estimated that “during the peak migration 12 000 – 14 000 birds are being hunted for consumption and commercial sale” a day.

The migrating birds had stopped in Nagaland to rest, as they have many times before, but this time researcher learnt that hunters spread fishing nets 30-40 metres long and 10-12 metres high around the roosting sites in trees alongside a dam to capture the birds. This was the first time such large scale hunting of the falcons had been witnessed by conservationists and Conservation India has launched a programme aimed at preventing similar massacres.

The birds roost communally and at one roost 20 000 birds have been counted. The high concentration of birds at roosts makes them easy targets.

The falcons are traditionally hunted in Nagaland with guns or catapults and are also considered a delicacy in some parts of Africa.

Until recently scientists had been unsure of the exact route the birds followed during their migration but the use of ultra-light satellite transmitters which weigh only five grams has allowed Dr Bernd-Ulrich Meyburg from Germany and his team to accurately track the birds for the first time.

Dr Meyburg and his team fitted ten birds from a roost in Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal with the matchbox sized transmitters and then downloaded information from the satellite data to plot their journeys to and from southern Africa. Not only did the team manage to accurately plot the migration routes but they also recorded remarkable details of the feats achieved by individual birds.

One bird, falcon 95 773, on its return trip to Asia flew non-stop from Somalia to Burma in only five days. Another bird, falcon 95 778, has successfully completed the journey between Newcastle and her Asian breeding grounds for the last two years, covering in the region of 60 000 kilometres on her travels.
The falcons arrive in Southern Africa in late November and December. Some Amur falcons spend their southern summer in Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi and Mozambique, in late November and December. Their Asian breeding grounds spread from south eastern Siberia, through northern China, Mongolia and North Korea. Insects such as flying termites and dragonflies are usually caught on the wing and other prey, such as grasshoppers are caught on the ground without the bird settling. They occasional eat small birds like swallows.

Sources:
Raptor Identification Guide for Southern Africa – Ulrich Oberprieler and Burger Cillie (Rollerbird Press).
The Kestrel Migration Project – www.kestreling.com
The World Working Group on Birds of Prey and Owls (WWGBP) www.raptors-international.org

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