Updates from our Cuckoos

During the last week locations received from Bowie's tag show that he has left Angola and headed north. He is now in southwest Congo, 2813km (176 miles) north of his mid-winter location. Bowie is on his way back.

Having not heard from Bowie for a few weeks it was a relief when we began to receive locations from his tag in the last few days of December. His body temperature is spot-on, however, the battery charge is still a little low, hopefully this will get better when and if his tag gets more sunlight. He is still settled in the northwest corner of Angola, around 20km (13 miles) southeast of the coastal town of Santo do Zaire Soyo.

We haven't heard from Bowie's tag for a couple of weeks, however, the information we received at the time showed that the battery charge was low. Since arriving in Angola he has been in dense forest, so it is not surprising that his battery charge is low. Fingers crossed we will get some more information when his tag gets some sun.

Since arriving in northern Angola in early November, Bowie hasn't moved much. He is moving around the area of forest he arrived in and we are recieving locations from his tag quite frequently but it seems like he won't move very far now until he begins to head north again, probably some time in late January or early February. He is just over 6,500km (4,000 miles) from his New Forest breeding site.

Locations received from Bowie's tag around breakfast time on 18 November show that he is still settled in forest in northwest Angola. He has been here since early November and it could be that this is his main winter location.

A few days ago we received a series of locations that showed Bowie had left Gabon and was in the north-west corner of Angola, 714km (444 miles) south of his stopover site in Gabon. He is currently in an area of forest 58km (36 miles) from the Atlantic Coast.

Bowie is settled in Gabon for the time being and we are receiving locations from his tag; we last heard from him during the early evening on 16 October. He is frequenting an area of dense rainforest in eastern central Gabon.

Bowie is still to the north of the Teke Plateau, however, we haven't heard from his tag since 20 September. The temperature reading showed that he was alive but the battery charge was quite low. He is in an area of dense rainforest and the solar panel on the tag is probably not getting enough sunlight to properly charge the battery. Fingers crossed this will change if and when he moves further south.

Bowie is in the Congo rainforest. He arrived there during the early hours of 12 September. He is just to the northwest of the Teke Plateau, an area that has served as an overwinter site for several of our satellite tagged Cuckoos in the past. He is currently 5,804km (3,606 miles) from his New Forest breeding site as the crow flies.

We are still receiving lots of information from Bowie's tag that shows he is still settled in an area of forest to the northwest of Manda National Park in southern Chad. In the next couple of weeks we could well see him move south into the Congo basin and closer to his winter location. At this stage we don't know where this will be as this is the first year that we have followed Bowie.