Victor has made a big movement westwards and is now in Ghana, West Africa. By 8 March he had covered 1790km (1100 miles) from his previous location in Central African Republic, from where his tag last transmitted on 3 March, and was west of Lake Volta. He's a little bit ahead of where he was at this time last year, when he moved to Ghana in early April and had crossed the desert to northern Africa by 23 April. Will he spend longer preparing for his crossing or take on the challenge earlier than in 2017?
Updates from our Cuckoos
Read the latest updates from our Cuckoos on their epic migration between the UK and tropical Africa, or track their movements in real-time on our Cuckoo migration map.
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Victor in Ghana
13 Mar 2018
Selborne and PJ head east
13 Mar 2018
After having travelled so far west, two of our Cuckoos have turned around and gone eastwards. From the Guinea Highlands, Selborne has travelled north-eastwards 125km (80 miles) while PJ has also headed east 190km (115 miles) within Ivory Coast. This may be to do with conditions being more favourable here.
PJ moves into West Africa
28 Feb 2018
PJ is the second of our tagged Cuckoos this year to move into West Africa! By the evenng of 22 February he had covered a distance of 1230km (765 miles) west and was in Togo but, new signals received yesterday morning, show he has continued 960km (600 miles) further to Ivory Coast. He is in the west of Ivory Coast, 165km (just over 100 miles) east of Selborne in Guinea. This could be where he prepares for his desert crossing, as he did last year, crossing in early April.
Larry leaves Republic of Congo
28 Feb 2018
Larry has continued on northwards, leaving the Republic of Congo, and heading over the border into the Central African Republic. He has travelled 300km (185 miles) and is on the northern edge of the Dzanga-Sangha National Park. In previous years he has moved into West Africa during March. The first year we tracked him he made his desert crossing from Nigeria in April, but the second year he moved much further west, into Guinea, and crossed from there. What will he do this year?
Victor in Central African Republic
15 Feb 2018
Victor's newest signals on 14 February show he's moved a further 400km (245 miles) northwards and is now in the west of the Central African Republic.
Selborne in Guinea
15 Feb 2018
Selborne has only travelled a short distance since the last blog but, by flying 75km (50 miles) north-east, he is now over the country border and into Guinea. He's already covered an incredible journey of approximately 5760km (3,500 miles) from his wintering location in Angola. Go Selborne!
Larry moves north within Congo
15 Feb 2018
Larry has moved a further 280km (175 miles) northwards within Congo. He is now in the Odzala-Kokoua National Park, an area that Victor has just left. This is an area that Larry didn't use on the first migration we followed but discovered when heading south in October 2016, and again made use of for a few weeks in February 2017 on his northward migration, before heading into Cameroon.
Selborne in West Africa
08 Feb 2018
Signals received yesterday show that Selborne had indeed been busy winging his way to West Africa - all the way to the Ivory Coast!
He covered around 2115km (1315 miles) between 29 January (his last signal in Gabon) and 7 February. He is very close to the border with Guinea and is in the Guinea Highlands area, a densely forested mountainous plateau extending from central Guinea through northern Sierra Leone and Liberia to western Ivory Coast. He is currently just east of the area in Guinea in which he spent a few days in last year before then venturing further to the forests in the south of Guinea.
Last year he embarked on his desert crossing towards the end of March, having spent time in and around the border of Guinea and Ivory Coast, feeding up and gaining reserves for the mammoth task ahead of him. He is the first of our tagged Cuckoos to move into West Africa this year and may be the first to embark on his desert crossing - though it doesn't always work out this way. We'll have to wait and see!
Victor begins his journey home
06 Feb 2018
Since the end of November Victor has been in south-eastern Gabon but signals received yesterday showed that he has now left his wintering location! He has travelled 380km (235 miles) and is now in the Republic of Congo in the north of the Odzala-Kokoua National Park. It's great to see him start his journey home.
Cuckoos on the move north
02 Feb 2018
Two more Cuckoos have begun their journeys northwards from their wintering locations. From Angola, Larry has flown 675km (420 miles) north east to Central Congo.He is now to the north-east of Okoyo. This is similar to what he has done in the previous two years, before moving into Cameroon and then on to west Africa. In the first year he then made his desert crossing from Nigeria, but in the second year that we tracked him he went much further west - crossing the desert from Guinea! What will he do this year?
Selborne has also headed north and is now in northern Gabon, close to the coast, and the Reserva Natural del Estuario del Muniborder, a Wetland of International Importance. He is just south of the border with Equatorial Guinea, and has travelled 350km (218 miles) from his previous location.
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