From his position in the west Nigeria, Ken has continued to move slowly eastwards. By the morning of the 15 September, Ken had travelled 730km (450 miles) and was just north of Gombe. A couple of days later, he had covered a further 760km ( 470 miles) and, having headed off from Gombe in a more southerly direction, by the afternoon of 22 September was in the Ouham region in the north-west of the Central African Republic. Sussex the Cuckoo is also in this region and only about 210km (130 miles) separates them.
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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Ken in Central African Repulic
23 Sep 2013
Whortle in Niger
13 Sep 2013
From his position close to the border, Whortle had crossed over from Mali in to Niger by 9 September and covered 250km (155 miles) in a south-easterly direction. From here he then travelled north-east 100km (65 miles). He is currently in the Tillaberi region of Niger.
Chance on shores of Lake Chad
11 Sep 2013
By the early hours of 10 September Chance had travelled the final 70km (45 miles) or so and was on the shores of Lake Chad. About 80km (50 miles) separate him and fellow Scottish-tagged Cuckoo, Patch, who is on the other side of the lake.
Chance gets closer to lake
09 Sep 2013
Chance has travelled a further 96km (59 miles) in a south-easterly direction, still heading towards Lake Chad but he has a little more distance to cover before reaching it. He is currently very close to his location on August 15 last year, where shortly after crossing the desert he turned eastwards and made straight for Lake Chad, spending a few weeks in and around the nearby area.
Patch at Lake Chad
09 Sep 2013
We continued to receive signals from Patch’s tag through the evening of 4 September and into 5 September as he travelled south in Niger. The next signal, and the first of good quality, was received on the afternoon of 6 September and showed Patch was in the Yobe region of Nigeria, northeast of Potiskum and had finished his desert crossing. From Italy on 2 September, Patch had travelled 3044km (1890 miles).
From this new position, Patch then headed south-east 135km (83 miles) which took him into the Borno region of Nigeria. From here he travelled north-east throughout the early hours of 7 September in an apparent beeline for Lake Chad. By mid-afternoon he had made and was at the north of the lake - the first of our tagged Cuckoos this year to stop-over at this site. Livingstone spent a day or two there, while transmissions from Sussex’s tag show he was no closer than about 75km (45 miles) north-west of Lake Chad. Chance is heading towards Lake Chad but has yet to reach its shores. Last year Chance also stopped here, along with Chris and Mungo, and all stayed in the area for a while. It was actually the last location we received for Mungo on his journey.
David heads even further east
06 Sep 2013
On the 3 September, David was still in northern Central African Republic but by late afternoon on 5 September, he had travelled eastwards 470km (290 miles) to Sudan. This mirrors his movement last year when he moved from his position which was slightly further north, in Chad, and was in Sudan by 16 September. This surprised us as, at the time, as he was already much further east than many of the other Cuckoos. It’s really interesting that he has once again moved further east and to an area very close to that he used last year.
Patch leaves Europe
05 Sep 2013
Patch has left Europe! In fact by midday on the 3 September he was in north Libya, and roughly 29 hours later he had made his crossing of the Tenere desert and was 1900km (1160 miles) further south, in Niger, but still with some way to go before he had finished crossing the rest of the desert. Since leaving Italy, however, we haven't yet received a location of good quality - hence nothing appearing on the map. Hopefully we will receive some of better quality shortly which will reveal his progress across the desert.
Whortle leaves river location
05 Sep 2013
Locations on 2nd September show Whortle close to the Niger river but by early morning on 4 September he had already continued 290km (180 miles) in a south-easterly direction and was close to the border with both Burkina Faso and Niger. His current location is between the Partielle De Faune D'ansongo-Menaka, an area which was apparently first created to conserve the giraffes which are sadly no longer there, and the Sahel Reserve. He is roughly 730km (500 miles) to the north-west of Ken and Skinner - not too bad given his comparatively late departure!
Sussex is the most southerly Cuckoo
03 Sep 2013
By the 31 August, Sussex had left Chad and headed south, revealing his new position in the Central African Republic. The excitement at Whortle and Patch's movements over the weekend meant this new movement was slightly overshadowed but he has actually travelled 450km (280 miles) and is now further south than Nick, making him the most southerly of all our tagged Cuckoos! Only David is also in the Central African Republic, in the very north tip, about 550km (340 miles) away from Sussex's location.
Derek moving south
03 Sep 2013
From his location in the Zamfara region of Nigeria, Derek has flown more than 300km (190 miles) in a south-easterly direction and is now in the Kaduna region, 60km (37 miles) west of Jos in the middle belt of Nigeria.
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