Updates from our Cuckoos

Chance was the most northerly of all the Cuckoos from which we are still receiving regular transmissions. However, movements early this morning show that he has moved from his location north of Lake Chad and travelled south into Cameroon.  He covered around 686km (426 miles) south to a location close to the edge of the Mbang Mountain region before moving 80km (50 miles) back north, presumably in search of better conditions. 

BB and Chance remain in Chad and have transmitted in the last couple of days. Chance is still in the vicinity of Lake Chad while BB is further south. 

There have been no movements of note from our Cuckoos in the last few days. Transmissions have been received from Indy and Chance today and Lloyd, David, Wallace, Roy, BB and Chris in the last few days. Hopefully there will be more to report after the weekend! 

Locations received from Chance on 4 September show that Chance remains east of Lake Chad. 

Recent transmissions showed Chance leaving the vicinity of Lake Chad but a series of locations received early on 30 August showed that Chance was moving NW at that time. He stopped 28km (17 miles) SW of Massakory, having moved 91km (56 miles) from his previous position. By Saturday 1 September he had moved another 66km (41 miles) NW to an area at the north-eastern corner of the seasonally flooded extent of Lake Chad, close to his previous position near the lake.

We believe that the transmission depicted to the east is incorrect and that Chance remained in the area east of Lake Chad. Further transmissions on 22, 23, 25 and 27 August show him 155km (95 miles) southeast of the Lake, and his previous position.

A single location received for Chance this morning (20^th August) placed him in south-eastern Chad 30km north of David’s position. Although this single location appeared to be a good quality fix it may have been erroneous, as two other unconfirmed locations received for the period immediately after this one placed him much closer to his previous location and just east of Lake Chad. It seems more likely that Chance has remained in the vicinity of Lake Chad rather than having moved 670km (415 miles) ESE as shown on the map but we will have to wait until Wednesday to find out. 

On 31 July Chance was still at his location south of Berlin but by Sunday 5 August unconfirmed signals (which won't update on the map) suggest he had moved to a new location 557km (346 miles) to the SE in Austria. This places him in hill-country with extensive forest patches 36km (22 miles) north of Graz. Given the amount of time he spent near Berlin, Chance may not spend too much time preparing for onward migration here.

Having still been in north-eastern France on Wednesday, by first thing this morning John had moved 290km (180 miles) due S. His new location is just west of the south end of the Jura Mountains 32km (20 miles) NNW of Oyonnax and 61k (38 miles) NW of Geneva. As he moves into southern Europe, he leaves Chance (still south of Berlin according to an confirmed location received Thursday – his tag is not charging well and we might expect him to move south soon) and Wallace (still near Troon on Wednesday evening) as our only Cuckoos (excluding Idemili) left in northern Europe.