Updates from our Cuckoos

Clement has continued making his way east. On Friday morning (12 August) he had reached southern Burkina Faso and was 30km ESE of Bobo-Dioulasso. He was still at the same location at midday on Wednesday (17 August). This is the first British Cuckoo to be recorded in Burkina Faso and he is in an area of scattered bushes near the village of Houet (see the picture here taken only 200m from our last fix!).

Since 2009, BTO has been working on migrant birds in Burkina Faso and Ghana as part of its Out of Africa project with RSPB and the two BirdLife International partners, the Ghana Wildlife Society and Naturama. BTO research has shown that migrants wintering in the humid zones of West Africa are in rapid decline. Our field project, spanning habitats from the arid Sahel in Burkina Faso to the humid rainforests in Ghana, is looking to understand the wintering and stop-over ecology of migrants and how changes in land use and climate are impacting their populations.

The migrant team works closely with partners in Burkina Faso and Ghana. More information and news from the project can be found at www.migrantbirdsinafrica.blogspot.com.
 

Chris remains in the same area, about 170km (106 miles) north of the town of Sarh in southern Chad.

On Tuesday afternoon (9 August), Kasper was still in the Bayan Dutsin Forest Reserve area.

We were expecting another update from Lyster’s tag first thing this morning. In fact, however, his tag has deviated from its designated transmission cycle for some reason (it could have been re-set by a magnetic field such as that from overhead power-lines), and we received updates for him yesterday afternoon (10 August). He was close to the Atlantic Coast of Morocco, about 20km (12 miles) SW of Casablanca. His route appears to have taken him directly across the Straits of Gibraltar, although of course we do not know precisely what route he took between his current and previous locations whilst his tag was not transmitting. The last message we received was at 2240hrs when he was still in the same place, so he does not appear to have started his desert crossing last night.

Lyster is the second Cuckoo, following Clement, to have taken the unexpected south-western route into Africa. Fascinatingly, he has taken an even more westerly route than his predecessor, having gone around the northern side of the Atlas Mountains and along the Atlantic Coast. There are many oases along the coast to the south of here and if he continues to take the coastal route, like we know many of our small migrants heading into West Africa, such as the Nightingale we tracked from Norfolk with a geolocator do, he will be minimising his desert crossing and the amount of inhospitable land he has to cross. This seems to make sense – what was more surprising to us was that the likes of Kasper, Clement and Chris crossed the desert at or close to its widest point. Mike Beer, who has driven through many of these areas, reports that the Hoggar and Tibesti areas, that were included in the parts of the Sahara these birds traversed, are in fact not as inhospitable as the sand deserts around them, and in places there may even be small pools and dew points with tiny bushes.
 

Locations received yesterday early morning (10 August) revealed that Clement had left his residency in Senegal and was heading ESE over the south-western corner of Mali! He was still actively migrating when transmissions began at 0200hrs and appeared to have been migrating throughout the night. He had stopped by 0600hrs when had travelled 450km ESE from Foret Diambour. Although just inside the north-eastern tip of Guinea, Clement is only 200km (122 miles) form Bamako, the capital of Mali.

Clement appears to be skirting the closed forested zone to the south, and the area he is in is still just inside the semi-arid zone. It is, however, criss-crossed with watercourses which drain water from the high rainfall zone to the south and south-west. Many of these flow into the headwaters of the River Niger, which flows north-eastwards through Mali and into the southern Sahara Desert before turning east then back south in a huge arc into Nigeria. This massive flow of water from the humid south-western corner of West Africa forms a verdant strip in the otherwise barren desert, and is vital both for the humans who farm the Inner Niger Delta and other seasonally-flooded parts of Mali, and the millions of migrating birds who either winter there or use it on passage. For an account of the area and its importance to migratory birds, check out ‘Living on the Edge – Wetlands and birds in a changing Sahel’ by Leo Swarts, Rob Bijlsma, Jan van der Kamp and Eddy Wymenga.
 

Although his tag is not charging well and we are receiving very few good quality locations (as was the case with the other Cuckoos whilst they were at their stop-overs in southern Europe), on Saturday (6 August) Lyster was still in the Parque Naturel del Alto Tajo area. He had been there for just over a week at that time – his tag is due to transmit again this evening when we may get an update if it is charged sufficiently. He is experiencing a pleasant 22°C and bright sunshine.

Stop press! Three signals recieved last night, before his tags charge was depleted, showed Lyster on the move. He has headed off from the Madrid area in a SSW direction, apparently heading towards Gibraltar, by Thursday morning, when his tag is due to transmit again, he could be in Africa. Watch this space!

Having moved 100km to the south on Wednesday evening (3 August), Chris had returned north to his previous position by Saturday morning! We received several good quality locations spanning several hours soon after his arrival at the more southerly temporary location but we don’t know how long he spent there, other than that it was less than 2 days. Presumably conditions there were not to his liking so he returned to the previous location, knowing that this was a better bet…. He is experiencing pretty much the same weather as Kasper, 25°C, scattered cloud with the chance of thunderstorms.

On Sunday morning (7 August) Kasper was still in northern Nigeria about 40km (25 miles) from the border with Niger. He appears to be settled in the Bayan Dutsin Forest Reserve, where he has been for at least a week, hopefully having found good foraging conditions. The temperature today is 25°C with scattered cloud and the possibility of thunderstorms.

On Saturday evening (6 August) Martin was still on the edge of the Chari River floodplain. The Chari River provides most of the water flowing into Lake Chad and much of Chad’s population is concentrated around it. The weather today is a balmy 26°C with scattered cloud, however, thunderstorms are expected.

Yesterday evening (8 August) Clement was still in the Foret de Diambour, Senegal. Today’s weather should suit him, it is 25° C, dry and overcast.