Fwd: [africanraptors] Satellite-tracked Amur Falcon escaped from hell

Dear all,

One of our satellite-tracked Amur Falcons, an adult female, was fitted with a 5g tag in early January 2010 in South Africa. This spring it was tracked for the third time over the Indian Ocean to its breeding grounds some 470 kms west of Peking in China. It left the area during the first half of October to arrive on 4 November at Doyang reservoir in eastern India, now world famous for the slaughter of theses small falcons - see

http://www.conservationindia.org/campaigns/amur-massacre

http://www.birdwatch.co.uk/channel/newsitem.asp?c=11&cate=__13205

http://www.birdlife.org/community/2012/11/help-required-to-end-hunting-massacre-in-nagaland-india/

120,000-140,000 birds are estimated to be killed every year at this largest congregation anywhere in the world.

Please sign a petition:

https://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/please-stop-amur-falcon-massacre-in-nagaland-india

Our bird had already visited the area last autumn.

We had again anxious days. Would the female survive? Finally on 14 November she left the area to start crossing the Indian Ocean on 17 November some 400 kms south of Mumbai (Bombay). This is further south than in the previous years.

We just received the last fix for 20 November 6.47 h (GMT), when she was only 240 kms from the coast of Somalia in East Africa. Two years ago she arrived in Somalia on 21 November and on 22 November in 2011. The crossing of the ocean occurs considerably further south this year.

After almost three years, this falcon must be the world champion as for long-term satellite tracking of a small bird with a 5 g PTT.

Best wishes,

Bernd Meyburg
Christiane Meyburg
Rina Pretorius

BUMeyburg@aol.com
www.Raptor-Research.de

P.S.: We apologise for not always beeing able to respond to the requests we receive regarding telemetry. We have to do ornithology in our very limited spare time.