Updates from our Cuckoos

Although PJ is still in the area he arrived in in southern Niger, he does seem to be moving around a series of creeks and areas with sparse tree cover. There are also small areas of cultivation too, so it may be a good stopover site, if a little drier than most of our Cuckoos choose. Looking at what the other birds are doing, it might not be too long before PJ begins to head east.

Peckham is still in the area of southern Chad in which he arrived in mid-September, although over the last few days he did undertake a 146km (90 miles) round trip into the Manda National Park, only to return to his stopover site. Perhaps this is in preparation for his push south into the Congo rainforest? Only time will tell.

Locations received on 4 October show Markoo is still in northwest Nigeria and is still alive and well. He has been here for a month but it might not be long before he heads south and east and into the Congo rainforest.

A location received on 26 September showed Larry close to the border of Chad and Central African Republic, but by the evening of 28 September he had cross CAR and was in Congo, just north of the Equator. Three locations received during the early morning on 1 October showed that he had crossed the Equator. He is currently in forest close to Ekoungounou. His mid-winter location in 2015 was in northern Angola, a further 750km (465 miles) south of where he is at present.

Jack is still heading south but doesn't seem to be in a hurry. He is currently in the toe of Italy between the towns of Camocelli Superiore and Camocelli Inferiore. This really ought to be the launch pad for his desert crossing, unless he heads right to the very southern tip of Italy, 50km (31 miles) to the south west. It is almost three months since Jack left Britain, the longest migration duration through Europe that we have experienced from any of our satellite tagged Cuckoos. We would expect him to cross the desert any day now and should hear from him late on 4 October or early on 5 October. Will he have made the jump across the Mediterranean? We will have to wait and see.

We were hopeful that when, and if, Disco Tony's tag burst back into life it would show that he had successfully crossed the Sahara. However, a series of poor locations received on 4 October show that he is still in southern France and we have to conclude that we have lost him. Last year he left northern Italy on 19 August and was by Lake Chad by the end of the month. Even though he was running very late this year he wasn't the only one, and we hoped that he still might be OK but it doesn't seem to be the case and we have to say a very sad goodbye to Disco Tony.

At 08.47 on the morning of 30 September, David was still at his stopover site in southern Chad but a location received from his tag at 13.49 on 2 October showed that he was 704km (437 miles) to the south and close to the southern border of Central African Republic. He is currently just north of a small town called Alindao and still 1,000km (620 miles) from his winter location in southern DRC. He arrived at his winter location on 16 December in 2015, having been at his stopover site in northern DRC since 28 September, which suggests he still has a little further south to travel on this leg of his journey before he heads to the winter location.

Locations received from the tag of 161324 on 23 September showed that he was heading south through Burkina Faso. His tag then powered down to allow the small solar panel to recharge the batteries. When it powered back up again 161324 had turned east and was in Nigeria, roughly midway between the Dagida Game Reserve and Old Oyo National Park. He didn't hang around though and a couple of days later he was 676km (420 miles) to the south and east of his last location but still in Nigeria. He didn't stay here long either, in the early hours of 30 September he was another 481km (300 miles) to the south in Cameroon 60km (40 miles) east of the capital Yaounde, and on the northern edge of the tropical rainforest. A few poor quality locations received on 2 October suggest he is still at this location.

On 22 September locations received from 161321 showed that he had left Benin and was heading east across southern Nigeria. Further locations received since then show that he is currently settled in the area he arrived in on 22 September. He is in an area of wet forest north of the town of Ejiba.