Bird Podcast

This episode is about the magnificent migration of the Amur Falcons, the largest raptor migration in the world. It is 4:30 AM on a cold day in November.  A group of us from Bangalore are driving from Dimapur to Hakhezhe, Nagaland to observe a spectacle like nothing we’ve seen before: the greatest raptor migration on earth.   The Amur falcon or Falco amurensis breeds between Northern China and Southeastern Siberia.  Amurland.  Where the Amur river-- the tenth longest in the world flows. Unusually for this year, these falcons have come near Dimapur.  They are roosting overnight on the sal and teak trees.  Come dawn and they will fly, looking for the large amount of insects-- termites, dragonflies, bees and others-- that they will catch on the wing.  They are headed for Eastern and Southern Africa where they will winter in warm climes, eating locusts and termites in the fertile red earth of Africa.  To get there, they undertake one of the most arduous migrations in the world.  First they fly from Siberia to No