We haven't heard from David for a few weeks but on 12 January we received a poor location that showed he was still at his winter location in DRC. We have 'lost' David during the winter months in previous years and think that he must spend time under the canopy in the forest, resulting in a poor charge for the batteries from the solar panel on the tag. Once he pops out into better light we should receive more locations from the tag.
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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David still in DRC
17 Jan 2017
Bill heads north
17 Jan 2017
A poor quality location received from Bill on 13 January shows that he has moved north into DRC. We will have to wait until we receive better quality locations from his tag to confirm his exact location.
Victor makes a large movement north
05 Jan 2017
Over the course of a few days Victor has headed north, covering a total distance of 950km (590 miles), and arriving in northern Gabon by 3 January. Could this be the start of his return home?
It's more than likely that this is the first northward 'phase' of his annual journey but doesn't necessarily mean he'll continue. He will probably now stay in that region for a couple of weeks before moving north of the forest zone and then moving into West Africa. As he was one of the birds that went so far south this year, he may simply have started early to return to the area that would be a typical mid-winter location for our cuckoos most years.
David follows previous path
21 Dec 2016
David remained in the Parc National De La Salonga Nord in the Democratic Republic of Congo until 7 December when new signals indicated he was on the way south, as in previous years, to the Parc National De La Salonga Sud. He has made this small move to the southern area of park and surrounding areas each year since we started following him in 2012, though the timings have been slightly varaible each year.
Victor heads north
21 Dec 2016
Signals received from Victor's tag today show that he has left the area he was in, close to PJ, and headed 130km (81 miles) north within Angola. He is now less than 5 miles from both Larry and Bill!
161324 is named
21 Dec 2016
Cuckoo 161324 has received a name, Victor! He has been kindly named by Mrs Ann Masters in memory of her husband Vic. Good luck on your return journey Victor.
161321 leaves area of National Park
07 Dec 2016
Signals receied today show that 161321 has just left the area of the Moukalaba-Doudou National Park and headed 100km (60 miles) north within Gabon. He has been in Gabon for almost two months now and was joined by Peckham several weeks ago.
PJ heads north
06 Dec 2016
At the beginning of December PJ made a relatively large movement northwards, travelling 280km (175 miles). He is now in the same area of Angola as four of the other Cuckoos, with just 215km (135 miles) separating the most northerly from the most southerly within Angola. Larry and Bill, who are closest to each other, are separated by only a few miles.
Larry and Bill in the same area
06 Dec 2016
Of the four Cuckoos in Angola, Larry and Bill are now only a few miles apart, after small southwards movement from Bill throughout November.
David settled in winter location
06 Dec 2016
David has remained in the Parc National De La Salonga Nord. In previous years he has headed south only a little further, into the Parc National De La Salonga Sud, before then starting his northward journey again in January or February.
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