Updates from our Cuckoos

Chris remains in the same area in Congo in which he arrived on 26 September. He has now been joined by fellow East Anglian Cuckoo, Derek. This is interesting as, previously, all of the birds tagged in the region have wintered further south and west in central Congo, with Chris being an exception. It looks like he may have company this winter.  

Throughout the evening of 24 October and the early hours of 25 October, we received locations indicating that Derek was heading south-east from his location in Nigeria and by around 3am he was in northern Cameroon. From here he travelled a further 900km (550 miles) in a more southerly direction and by 27 October was in Congo, in the Likouala-aux-herbes area, roughly 30km (19 miles) from Chris’s location.  Chris has spent much of the previous two winters in the area so we wonder whether fellow East Anglian bird Derek may also choose this as a good over-wintering location.

Up until the 20 October, Skinner remained in southern Cameroon but by the 24 October he had travelled 200km (125 miles) and was in north-eastern Gabon in an area of the Congo rainforest.

Despite this, Skinner is still 400km north of the most southerly Cuckoos, David and Tor. Will he move further south to winter or will he be happy to stay slightly further north, as Chris has tended to do in previous years? 

Shortly after Skinner's movement, Ken also travelled to Gabon, transmitting from a location around 220km (140 miles) to the south of his location. 

Up until 20 October, Ken remained in the same area in Central African Republic he had been in since the 25 September but signals received on the 22 October revealed he was on the move. Throughout that evening and the early morning hours of 23 October he headed in a south-westerly direction and by the morning of 25 October he has arrived in eastern Gabon, having covered almost 930km (580 miles) and joining our more southerly Cuckoos in the others in the depths of the Congo rainforest. 

It has now been over a month since we received signals from Nick's tag and unfortunately we think this may be the end of the journey for him. His last location was in Cameroon, close to Ngaoundere.

Interestingly, not many of our tagged Cuckoos have spent time in this area, instead travelling through areas in the south of Congo. Indy, one of the Cuckoos tagged in 2012, also stopped transmitting after moving to a location in Cameroon, about 400km (250 miles) further south, in the middle of September 2012.

Livingstone has not travelled any further and remains in the same location. He is just slightly further north, at a higher latitude, than David, Patch and Tor. 

We hadn't received transmissions from Tor's tag since 10 October when he moved to south Gabon and we were starting to get worried. Early this morning, however, we received some poor quality signals which reveal that he may have moved west and may now be in the Crystal Mountain area of south-western Congo. We will have to wait for better signals to confirm whether this is a real movement but we are relieved to have some received some news. 

Patch didn't pause for long in Cameroon and from his location on 11 October he travelled 1240km (770 miles) south-west to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he has remained until now. He is in the Bandundu region, close to Lake Mai-Ndombe, a large freshwater lake within the Tumba-Ngiri-Maindombe area and the largest Wetland of International Importance recognized by the Ramsar Convention in the world. 

David is still in the area of the Salonga National Park from which his tag transmitted from on 5 October. On 24 October last year he was slightly further south, en route to his most southerly location a further 100miles south, where he spent December 2012.  

Currently David, Tor and Patch are all at a similar latitude and our the most southerly of the tagged Cuckoos. 

Whortle has also moved south a further 730km (450 miles) within Nigeria and yesterday morning was in the Cross River region of southern Nigeria. He is close to the border with Cameroon.