After spending more than four months in her South African wintering ground, a young female Amur falcon named ‘Alang’ has returned to India for a stopover after a nonstop journey of around 6,000 km across the Arabian Sea. Alang, who was satellite tagged in November 2025 at Chiuluan village in Tamenglong district, Manipur, by scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India, is being tracked during her extraordinary and long journey and migration from Africa to India.
This small bird of prey started its journey from the Somalian coast in May 2026 and undertook nearly 6,000 km of nonstop flight across the Arabian Sea toward the Indian mainland. Experts regard this nonstop flight from the African coast to the Indian mainland as one of the longest over-ocean journeys undertaken by a small raptor.
Scientists from WII tagged the raptor last year in Manipur, India, and continuously tracked its movement using satellite telemetry. The satellite telemetry provides real-time information about migration routes, flight speed, resting places, and survival challenges.
Monitoring of Alang is part of the Manipur Amur Falcon Tracking Project—Phase II, a joint research project between the Wildlife Institute of India and the Manipur Forest Department, supported by the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change. The same team is also monitoring two other tagged falcons, Apapang and Ahu, in addition to Alang. Apapang completed a 4,750 km non-stop flight from Somalia to central India in about 95 hours.
