As of Monday 10 October, Martin was still in southern Central African Republic. His tag is charging less well now that he is in more densely forested habitat with more cloudy weather but we should hear from him tonight. It will be interesting to see if he has followed Chris into the Congo to the south....
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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Martin poised to follow Chris?
12 Oct 2011
Clement staying put
12 Oct 2011
Clement remains at the Lame Burra Game Reserve.
Chris in the heart of the Congo
12 Oct 2011
Chris has continued his recent movement from Chad and by the evening of Monday 10 October he had moved a further 320km further south to a position on the border between Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo. He is in an area of apparently continuous, closed, wet forest in the heart of the Congo rainforest, the second largest rainforest on earth after the Amazon. He is a few km’s from the Ubangi River, a major tributary of the Congo River which runs almost parallel to the Ubangi, about 55km to its east at this point.
Chris has taken a more easterly route than the Eurasian Hobbies that were recently satellite tracked from Sweden and does not appeared to have minimised his rainforest crossing to the same extent although if he continues due south he will soon reach the savannas to its south. Having stopped in rather than over-flying the rainforest, it will be very interesting to see whether Chris has moved straight through the area next time his tag transmits...
Lyster heading east
11 Oct 2011
Lyster is currently in the south-eastern corner of Burkina Faso. He is now only 800km to the west of Kasper and is heading his way. The landscape he is in is one of open woodland. Given the recent rainfall in the area, he should be finding plenty of food. The temperature today is a warm 30°C with sunshine and cloud, with the possibility of thunderstorms in the evening.
No transmission from Kasper
06 Oct 2011
On 3 October Kasper remained around the Bayan Dutsin Forest Reserve. We didn’t receive any good locations from him during the last transmission cycle earlier today – the charge on his tag was very low. It has not been charging well for a while, possibly because Kasper has been spending his time under the canopy of the forest reserve.
Martin is joined by Chris
06 Oct 2011
Martin remains in southern Central African Republic but has now been joined by Chris, who is just 135km to the ESE. The similarity in their journeys and their recent convergence has been quite striking.
Will Clement follow?
06 Oct 2011
Clement is still in the Lame Burra Game Reserve, north-west of the Yankari Game Reserve, about 130km NE of Jos in central Nigeria, where he has been since the end of August. With the two Cuckoos, that were to the east of here, having now moved south into southern Central African Republic, we are waiting to see when he will move on. The area has slightly higher rainfall than where Martin and Chris were in Chad but it is possible Clement will move on now the wet season is at an end. On the other hand, having taken the western route to get here, perhaps he will do something totally different...
Chris moves south
06 Oct 2011
On 1st October Chris was still at his long-held position in southern Chad. However, when transmissions started again on the evening of Monday 3 October he had moved 790km almost due south, almost all the way over Central African Republic and stopped 8km from the border with Congo, at the Basse-Lobaye Forest.
He is about 135km ESE of Martin and is now our most southerly cuckoo. He is poised on the northern edge of the Congo basin, to the north of the rainforest. To his south lies the area where many Common Swifts that breed in Britain spend the winter, alongside those from elsewhere in Europe. Although not well explored, the Central African Republic that he has just passed over is likely to hold numerous migrants at this time of year and the Guinea savannah woodlands should be full of Wood Warblers and European Golden Orioles as well as Cuckoos.
Lyster moves eastwards
06 Oct 2011
By the early hours of yesterday morning Lyster had moved just over 900km ESE from his previous location in Mali and is now in Burkina Faso. He is now about 30km NNW of the town of Leo in southern Burkina, not far from the border with Ghana.
This places him 80km west of the Nazinga Game Reserve, which is one of the sites we have surveyed in our ‘Migrants in Africa’ project (some of which has been funded by the Out of Africa Appeal) carried out in collaboration with the RSPB, Ghana Wildlife Society and Naturama. To find out more about the work we have undertaken here, take a look at fieldwork project blog.
The new field season for this winter is just about to start so check back in a couple of weeks to find out how the team is getting on. We won’t be working in Burkina Faso this winter but will be carrying out detailed studies at two sites in Ghana concentrating on Nightingales and Wood Warblers so there should be plenty of interest to read about.
Lyster still in Mali
27 Sep 2011
Messages received on Monday put Lyster still in Mali. He has now been in this area for fifteen days.
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