Updates from our Cuckoos

When we last updated you Joe was on his way across the Sahara desert and by Thursday evening had reached southern Algeria. New updates received this morning (Sat 8 April) show that he has powered on across the desert, across the Mediterranean, over Spain and on to southern France! This means that since leaving Ivory Coast he has covered approximately 4,000km (2,485 miles). By 11am this morning he was close to the town of Tartas in Nouvelle-Aquitiaine in southwestern France. Will Joe now hold the lead and be the first of our tagged Cuckoos to reach the UK? Stay tuned to find out. 

Having been in Ivory Coast since 2 March, Joe has decided that the time has come to across the Sahara. New updates received from his tag yesterday show that he has flown 1,777km (1,105 miles) north over Burkina Faso and Mali and on to Algeria. By 9pm last night (6 April) he was in the desert in southern Algeria. He needs to fly approximately 1,300km to clear the desert in northern Algeria.

New updates received over the last 24 hours show that Joe has flown a further 217km (135 miles) west from his last location in Ghana to his new location in Ivory Coast. He is now a few miles south of the town of Agnibilékrou in eastern Ivory Coast. 

After several weeks in south eastern Cameroon, Joe has made hist move west, flying 1,970km (1,225 miles) north west to Ghana. By 10pm last night (26 Feb) he was 44km (27 miles) west of the city of Kumesi. Will he follow Ellis and JAC out to Guinea or will he stay further east, stay tuned to find out! 

Joe arrived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in late September and remained there until 14 January when he moved west and crossed over into the Republic of the Congo. He has remained there since and is currently in the banks of the Sangha River in north eastern Republic of the Congo. As Joe was tagged in 2022, this is our first winter of tracking data for him. 

Since our last update Joe has been exploring the tropical rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He in now deep in the forest approximately 100km east of Lake Mai-Ndombe in western DRC. 

Having spent two and a half months in Chad, Joe has flown 959km (596 miles) south from southern Chad, over Central African Republic and deep into the rainforests of the Congo Basin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He is the first of our tagged Cuckoos to reach the Congo and he is now approximately 32km (20miles) north east of Lake Tumba in eastern DRC where he may well spend the next few months. 

Joe is still in the far south of Chad and has moved further east. He is now approximately 30km from the border with Central African Republic and 40km east of the Chad city of Sarh.  

Joe has flown a few hundred kilometers further south in Chad, crossing the Chari river in the Chari-Baguirmi region. He is now 15km south of the city of Bousso.