Amur Falcons and the Doyang Lake Turnaround

In 2012, hunters killed over 100,000 falcons at one lake in Nagaland in a single season. A decade later, that same lake calls itself the falcon capital of the world.

An Amur Falcon in flight, Doyang reservoir region, Nagaland. Photo by P Jeganathan, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

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EnvEco0055 · Environment and Ecology

Amur Falcons: The Doyang Turnaround

From mass hunting in 2012 to the falcon capital of the world

2012

Mass Hunting

Hunters kill over 100,000 Amur Falcons at Doyang, near Pangti village, in a single season.

The Turnaround

Community Turnaround

The Nagaland Forest Department, local communities, and NGOs including BNHS end the hunting for good.

2013

First Tagging

Nagaland pioneers satellite tagging of Amur Falcons, opening a new way to study their migration.

8 Nov 2025

Manipur Tagging

Apapang, Alang, and Ahu are satellite-tagged at Chiuluan and Guangram villages, Tamenglong district.

Longest Oceanic Crossing By Any Raptor

The falcons cross the Arabian Sea non-stop, roughly 5,000–6,000 km in 4 to 5 days — the longest known non-stop oceanic crossing made by any raptor species.

📑 Contents

1The Turnaround
2The Migration
3Test Yourself
4Tracking, and Elsewhere

🦅 The Turnaround

1. From Mass Hunting to Global Recognition

The Problem Amur Falcons once faced mass hunting during their stopover at Doyang, a reservoir near Pangti village in Nagaland’s Wokha district. In the 2012 season alone, hunters killed over 100,000 birds.
The Turnaround A sustained campaign by the Nagaland Forest Department, local communities, and NGOs including the Bombay Natural History Society ended the hunting.
Today Villagers now actively protect the roosting falcons. The site is celebrated globally as the “Amur Falcon capital of the world,” a genuine community-led conservation success.

🌍 The Migration

1. A Stopover, Not a Home

Breeding Grounds Amur Falcons breed far to the north, across Siberia, Mongolia, and northern China. Doyang is only a stopover, not a permanent home.
Timing They roost at Doyang for just a few weeks each October and November, resting and feeding before continuing on.
Destination Their journey ends in southern Africa. One way, breeding grounds to South Africa, runs roughly 14,500 km. The full annual round trip totals close to 22,000 km.
Arabian Sea The most striking leg is the crossing of the Arabian Sea itself, a non-stop flight of roughly 5,000–6,000 km, taking 4 to 5 days. It is the longest known non-stop oceanic crossing made by any raptor species.

Test Yourself

🛰️ Tracking, and Elsewhere

1. What Tracking Actually Does

Monitor, Not Guide Satellite tags on individual birds let researchers study the migration route in detail. The tags monitor the birds, they don’t guide them.
Navigation Falcons find their way using their own innate biological cues, not human tracking technology.
Elsewhere Nagaland pioneered satellite tagging of Amur Falcons in 2013. More recently, on 8 November 2025, three falcons named Apapang, Alang, and Ahu were satellite-tagged at Chiuluan and Guangram villages in Manipur’s Tamenglong district, continuing the effort to map the species’ migration in detail.

Which Claims Are Correct, and the Answer Key

The conservation-success claim is genuinely correct, and it’s the real story here.
The tracking-technology claim is the trap. Tracking studies migration, it doesn’t cause birds to return.
The permanent-residency claim is also wrong. Doyang is a stopover, not a home.