Updates from our Cuckoos

A series of locations received from Selborne's tag between 14.30 and 19.00 on 24 March showed that he was heading north across the Sahara, and that he had made it into central Algeria, and that he was about halfway through the desert crossing. This was the last we heard from the tag until 03.00 on 25 March. He had made it, and was just north of the desert town of El Guerra. Selborne is the first of our tagged Cuckoos to cross the desert this spring.

After a few days rest, Larry has continued on his journey west. locations received from his tag on 26 March show that he has crossed into Ivory Coast. He is currently in an area of forest west of the Komoe River.

Bill has flown 526km (327 miles) west during the last few days, leaving Togo and completely overflying Ghana. He is currently in eastern Ivory Coast, close to the Komoe River. 

Dudley is still quite far west, but the area he is in is wet at this time of year - the rains have just finished. In any case, it is in a floodplain that is well-covered in Acacia nilotica woodland. There should be plenty of food for him in the woods, so his prolonged stop there is not very surprising. 

Dudley has recently made a small movement south from Algeria down to Niger. 

The three Cuckoos who have successfully completed their desert crossings, Dudley, Hennah and Stanley, have all remained within the same areas. They are probably taking time to feed up and recover from their long journeys, before continuing south later.

Victor has begun to head west, flying 318km (198 miles) in the last two days. He is currently in central Cameroon on the banks of the Sanaga River.

Larry really isn't hanging around. In the last ten days he has travelled 1,257 km (780 miles) from eastern Nigeria to Ghana. He is currently in western Ghana on the southern edge of the Amama Shelterbelt Forest Reserve. It will be interesting to see how long he stays here as he will now have to rest, feed-up and store fat to fuel his journey north across the Sahara.

Since arriving in Cameroon, Peckham has moved a further 273km (169 miles) north and is now in northern Cameroon. He is currently in fairly dense forest just north of Oue.