Filter by Cuckoo

Updates from our Cuckoos

Read the latest updates from our Cuckoos on their migration.

The end of the road for Valentine

19 Mar 2021

Sadly, it looks as if we have heard the last from Valentine. When his tag last transmitted, the battery in his tag was low on charge and had been for some time, but there's also an indication of a problem based on temperature. The temperature sensor in the tag reported about 8 degrees C lower than any of the previous readings in Angola, including those from similar times of day, and we don't think the move north by a few hundred km explains this. We suspect that Valentine perished between the last location in Angola (2nd Feb) and the ones in southwest DRC (16th Feb). Valentine was tagged in June 2019 so we have benefited from a lot of valuable data from Valentine, helping us extend our knowledge and understanding of this amazing species.  

Valentine on the move?

27 Feb 2021
A low quality location received from Valentine's tag suggests that he may be on the move from Angola towards Democratic Republic of Congo. Hopefully he will emerge from the forest canopy soon and his tag will receive enough sunlight to send us a more reliable location.

Valentine still in Angola

15 Feb 2021
We've seen little movement from Valentine over the last couple of months, since he arrived in Angola at the end of November. The latest updates received at the beginning of February show that he is still in rainforest in the Bengo province of northern Angola, approximately 136 km (85 miles) north east of the capital Luanda. Given that he is probably under the dense canopy of the rainforest, it isn't unusual for us to have fewer updates from his tag, which requires solar energy to charge up the battery. In previous years he has stayed in Angola until late February/early March. 

Valentine nudges west in Angola

10 Nov 2020
Having flown a further 215 km (133 miles) west in northern Angola, Valentine is now very close to his 2019 wintering grounds. He is 210 km (130 miles) north east of the capital Luanda.

Valentine reaches Angola

29 Oct 2020
Valentine has passed through Cameroon, Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo, and is now in northern Angola. He is only 130 km (80 miles) north of his wintering location in 2019. Last year he arrived here on December 5 so he is a little ahead of schedule this year. If conditions are good, he may well stay in this area until late February/early March.

Valentine in Cameroon

16 Oct 2020
Further signals received from Valentine's tag this morning place him a further 376 km (234 miles) south east of his last location, so he is now in south eastern Cameroon, approximately 205 km (127 miles) east of the capital Yaounde. Last year he wintered in northern Angola so if he is heading to the same area he has another 1,300km to fly south before reaching his final destination. 

Is Valentine in Cameroon?

14 Oct 2020
A couple of low quality updates from Valentine's tag received during the early hours of this morning suggest that he has flown 450 km (280 miles) south east from Nigeria into Cameroon. His new location appears to be in the mountainous Adamawa region in north western Cameroon. We will have to await better quality signals before we can be certain of Valentine's location. Stay tuned!

Valentine edges south in Nigeria

27 Aug 2020
Since our last update, Valentine has flown 83 km (52 miles) south in Nigeria and is close to the Falgore Game Reserve in Kano State in northern Nigeria. Last year Valentine passed through southern Nigeria in late November/early December, some 670 km (416 miles) south of his current position.

Valentine flies east to Nigeria

24 Aug 2020
Since our last update Valentine has flown 1,351 km (811 miles) east from Burkina Faso to Nigeria. He is 3.5 km (2.2 miles) north of the town of Bebeji in Kano State in northern Nigeria. In 2019 he stayed in Burkina Faso until mid-November, not reaching Nigeria until 24 November so it is interesting that he has moved east so much earlier this year. 

Valentine in Burkina Faso

14 Aug 2020
Following our last update predicting that Valentine wouldn't be moving again for a while, he of course flew 220 km (138 miles) S-SE towards the border with Burkina Faso. By yesterday evening he had flown a further 67 km (41 miles) east over the border into Burkina Faso. He is now close to the town of Barani in north-western Burkina Faso. Last year, Valentine arrived in Burkina Faso at the end of July and stayed in western Burkina Faso until mid-November.  

Pages



Related content