Updates from our Cuckoos

Having reported on 27 September that Larry was settled in Chad we then received a single location from his tag on 30 September showing that he had moved and was in Congo, just to the north of the Teke plateau. We haven't heard from his tag since. Looking at some of the data we receive from the tag, we can see that he was alive when we last heard from him but that the battery charge was very low. We hope that it is just a case of him being underneath the canopy of the forest and that the solar panel on the tag isn't getting much sunlight. Fingers crossed, he will 'pop-up' once the battery gets a better charge.

Since beginning his journey east, Lambert hasn't hung around. Having arrived in southwest Nigeria on 27 September he only stayed for three days. From here he moved to Cameroon for a five day stopover and then on to Congo. During this time he has flown over 1,300km (800 miles), through Nigeria, Cameroon and Central African Republic to get to Congo. He is currently in an area of very dense rainforest in the northwest corner of the country.

Two weeks ago Knepp made his move east and south out of Nigeria. During this time he has covered a distance of over 1,300km (800 miles) to reach Gabon, where he has joined three more of our tagged Cuckoos, Victor, Bowie and Robinson. All four Cuckoos are within a 20 mile radius of each other in an area of dense rainforest.

During the last week or so Carlton II has begun to move east, first to just over the border and into Niger and then a little further into Niger. He is currently in the Dagida Game Reserve, 30km (19 miles) from the border with Benin.

We haven't heard from Cameron for the last 15 days but his last two signals on the 3 October show that he was still alive at that time. We are always concerned when we don't hear from our Cuckoos but we have learned that we do 'lose' some of them for varying periods of time, often because they have moved under the canopy of the forest. Fingers crossed this is the case with Cameron and we hear from him soon.

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.

During the last couple of weeks Victor has been making his way east towards the Congo. He is currently in southern Cameroon and around 500km (342 miles) from the northern edge of the Teke plateau.

Thomas has reached the Congo basin and is in rainforest to the north of the Teke plateau. He is the second of our tagged Cuckoos to reach the Congo this year. He is now 941km (585 miles) southeast of his stopover site in eastern Nigeria.

Sherwood is still using an area of dunes and trees behind the beach just to the north of Dakar in Senegal. The data we are getting from his tag suggests that all is still well with him, so it will be interesting to see when he decides to move east.

During the last few days Selborne has moved back west and into Ghana, overflying Togo on the way. He has flown 207km (128 miles) during this movement and is currently just north of the town of Kukpoku.