Updates from our Cuckoos

BTO staff have searched the area around Tregaron that David has frequented in previous summers to no avail. Plenty of Cuckoos were seen but non with the tell-tale antenna of a satellite tag that would prove without doubt that the Cuckoo was David. David had been wearing his tag for over five years and the information received suggested that it was beginning to fail. We will never know for sure whether David is alive or not, but we live in hope.

We still haven't given up on David. On 24 May a team from BTO Wales will be going out to the area close to Tregaron that David showed great site faithfulness to in a bid to see him. They will be looking for any calling Cuckoos in the area and, if they find any, take a closer look to see if they can see the tell-tale antenna of the satellite tag. 

When we last heard from David he was alive and well but the battery charge on his tag was low. This might be because David has been spending time under the canopy in the rainforest and out of direct sunlight, making it difficult for the solar panel on the tag to put enough charge into the battery. However, David's tag, at five years, is quite old and it could be that it has finally failed. At this stage we just don't know and if he does move he could pop back onto the map again - fingers crossed.

We haven't heard from David for a few weeks but on 12 January we received a poor location that showed he was still at his winter location in DRC. We have 'lost' David during the winter months in previous years and think that he must spend time under the canopy in the forest, resulting in a poor charge for the batteries from the solar panel on the tag. Once he pops out into better light we should receive more locations from the tag.

David remained in the Parc National De La Salonga Nord in the Democratic Republic of Congo until 7 December when new signals indicated he was on the way south, as in previous years, to the Parc National De La Salonga Sud. He has made this small move to the southern area of park and surrounding areas each year since we started following him in 2012, though the timings have been slightly varaible each year. 

From Central African Republic, David has travelled south, moving to the Democratic Republic of Congo by 14 October. He is in the Parc National de la Salonga-Nord, an area he has visited in previous years.  

At 08.47 on the morning of 30 September, David was still at his stopover site in southern Chad but a location received from his tag at 13.49 on 2 October showed that he was 704km (437 miles) to the south and close to the southern border of Central African Republic. He is currently just north of a small town called Alindao and still 1,000km (620 miles) from his winter location in southern DRC. He arrived at his winter location on 16 December in 2015, having been at his stopover site in northern DRC since 28 September, which suggests he still has a little further south to travel on this leg of his journey before he heads to the winter location.

David is still settled in his stopover site in southern Chad.