Updates from our Cuckoos

On 26 November, transmissions from Chris's tag revealed that he had moved from his position in the Western Congolian Swamp forests and become the second of all our tagged Cuckoos to travel as far south as Angola! He had covered almost 800km (500 miles) and was just inside the border, in the region of Uige.

What's even more interesting than this movement south is that we have been tracking Chris for two and a half years and so know that he has spent the two previous winters in the swamp forest from which he recently moved. So what has prompted him to move? We know that rainfall has been a bit higher than usual over the past month in the area that he came from but we aren't sure whether that will have impacted conditions for him. Could food be more scarce in the area this year? If so, we may well see Derek who is in the swamp forests move on too. Keep an eye on the blog to see whether Chris decides to spend the winter in his new location or whether he returns to the swamp.  

Over a series of days, Livingstone has travelled 415km (260 miles) north-east, leaving his position in the Teke Plateau and heading to  northern Congo. Signals received today show that he is close to the border with the Central African Republic in the Noubale-Ndoki National Park.   

Chance has moved roughly 150 km (95 miles) south-west from his first location in Gabon, away from the Teke Plateau area and is now to the west of this. Recent movements from other Cuckoos arriving in this area suggest that conditions may not be so good in the area this year as in previous years and this may explain Skinner's southerly movement to Angola.

Skinner was still in Congo on 14 November but his new location, received yesterday, really surprised us! Skinner had moved 550km, heading even further south, and as of yesterday afternoon he was in Angola.

Not only is this a brand new country for any of our tagged Cuckoos since the project began, it is also the furthest south, by several 100 kilometres, that any of our Cuckoos have ever ventured. If you are surprised by this – take a look at what the Cuckoos from Belarus have done here. 

We are still following two of the four Cuckoos tagged in Dartmoor earlier this spring. Tor is in Congo, west of the Téké Plateau and Whortle is in the closed canopy forest in DRC, between Lac Mai and Lac Mumba and is midway between Patch and Waller.

The other two Cuckoos tagged there both perished in August, Ryder struggled to cross the desert once he arrived in Africa, while Dart made it to Mallorca but wa likely affecfed by dry conditions and wildfires there.

Of the Cuckoos tagged in Scotland this year, Livingstone is still on the edge of the Téké Plateau, whilst Patch is in an area of closed canopy forest with seasonally flooded grassland west of Lac Mai in DRC. Waller is in the swamp forests about 120km (75 miles) ESE of Chris and Derek. All three of these birds could be in their final mid-winter locations, although we might well see Waller at least move further south towards the gallery forest / savannah mosaics.

Concerns are mounting for Sussex, as we haven’t received any transmissions from his tag in more than two weeks and the temperature sensor on the last transmission gave an unusually low reading. We would normally expect this to be around body temperature, since the tag is fitted to the body, so a low temperature reading normally indicates a problem.  

By 1 November, Livingstone had moved north-west from his position in Congo to eastern Gabon, just inside it's border with Congo. 

The last signal from Skinner's tag in Gabon was on the 1 November. A couple of days afterwards he popped up in the Reserve de chasse de la Lefini in the Pool region of Congo, 340km further south-east from his previous location. This location is about 120km (75 miles) north of Kinshasa. He is now one of two of our most southerly Cuckoos, David being the other, who is 480km (300 miles) to the east. 

Over the weekend, Chance has moved south from Nigeria to Gabon, covering a total of about 1320km (820 miles), as he crossed over Cameroon and ventured further south-east. Signals late last night and early this morning show he is now in the Haut-Ogooue region of east Gabon and is now in the Congo Rainforest, where he will spend the winter.