Updates from our Cuckoos

We have not heard from Lyster since a transmission on 1 April in Ghana. We have had periods when birds have been 'offline' but we would have hoped to have had a transmission or two in the last 10 days.

Our last point on 7 April put Chris in the middle of the the Mediterranean between Corsica and the French and Italian coasts. We weren't confident of this point as it was a poor quality fix and his tag appeared to be malfunctioning as transmissions continued for more than the scheduled 10 hour. However, it appears to have reset itself and at 9am on 10 April we picked him up in north-western Italy near the town of Sarzana. He appears to be in a mosaic of forest/farmland which looks like ideal staging habitat.

Over the Easter period we had Kasper crossing the Grand Erg Oriental Desert but frustratingly we didn't know if he made it! However on the 9 April we found him in the north-west Atlas mountains in Algeria in the Foret de Charef. This typical Atlas habitat (see http://www.panoramio.com/photo/9456326) looks ideal staging habitat.

Martin made it as far as Lorca in southern Spain, where we last heard from him. At about 2200 his tag temperature dropped from a normal 30-32 degrees Centigrade to 11.7. This is not necessarily a bad thing as tag temperature drops to these levels when birds are migrating at altitude. However it was not a step change and was a gradual change over the course of a night. Due to transmit tonight (10 April), hopefully we'll pick him up somewhere further north.

habitat-lorca-small.jpg

 

Thanks to Helen who sent in this picture of her local area in Lorca in which Martin last transmitted from.  She reported that the it's 'open hilly area with mostly (almond and olive) trees and some small groups of pine trees here and there. The weather has been very cloudy for days with rain and even hail until April 5. On April 6 and 7 there was a strong wind from the north west'.

Chris and Kasper are due to transmit later this afternoon/evening. Chris's tag was malfunctioning on the last transmission and sent messages for more than the allotted 10 hours so we hope it will have reset itself.

No news from Easter Sunday - Martin missed a scheduled transmission and we have not heard from Lyster since 1 April.

No news from Easter Sunday - Martin missed a scheduled transmission and we have not heard from Lyster since 1 April.

A poor quality fix put Chris over the sea in between Corsica and the Italian and French coasts.

After 12 days with no messages from Kasper’s tag, positions received in the morning of 7 April showed he was in northern Algeria, having almost completed his desert crossing. He was moving north across the Grand Erg Occidental Desert, taking a path midway between those taken by Martin and Chris, heading more or less straight towards Algiers. Later today he should become the third of the Cuckoos to complete the northwards desert crossing.

Locations received last night showed that Martin had crossed over from Algeria into Spain. At 0325hrs he was situated in a well-wooded landscape about 18km (11 miles) west of Lorca in Murcia region. Although we can’t tell exactly where he crossed the Mediterranean, he appears to have taken a very similar route to that taken by Clement on his southward passage last July. This makes Martin the first of the Cuckoos to make it into Europe - will he be the first to reach Britain?