Updates from our Cuckoos

Martin was in the toe of Italy when we last saw him at 16:30 on the 21^st July. We next picked him up at 19:30 on the 23^rd in southern Chad at approximately 15 degrees North whilst on active migration. He carried on migrating through the night and ended up overflying Lake Chad. Our last fix was in northern Nigeria at 04:00 GMT, some 400km away from where we first picked him up. We can not say whether he was still on active migration or not. Since our last fix in Italy some 51 hours earlier, he had covered 2,500 km at an average speed of 49 km h^-1, exactly the same as Chris who in the past two days flew a distance of 2,700 km in 56 hours.

Lake Chad is a well known stopover site for migrants but Martin has decided to go futher. We await his next fix with interest to see whether he has stayed put or is pushing further south.

On the night of the 20th July, Chris was still in northern Italy. A series of three poor quality fixes indicated that by the early morning of 23rd July, Chris had crossed into Africa and was in Chad, having undergone a lengthy migration of over 2,600 km in 55.5 hours.

The latest fixes put him around the rim of Tarso Voon, a 3,100m high Stratovolcano located in the central-western part of the Tibesti Mountains. This range of mountains are the largest in the central part of Sahara and contain numerous interesting natural and historical landmarks - but most are little investigated due to the nearly constant warfare in this region.

Although the volcanoes are inactive the volcanic landscape (take a tour here) is impressive. The most interesting geothermal features of Sahara are seen in Soborom geothermal field about 5km west of the rim of Tarso Voon where there are bubbling hot springs, steam jets and  boiling mud pots. Local Toubou and other people from this part of Sahara come and stay for a few days in the natural resort to heal dermatitis or rheumatism. For healing, a pool, where water is some 42°C warm is used. The hottest spring pool is named Yerike - gas constantly rises from it and the pool is bubbling as if boiling. The temperature of springs in Soborom is between 22 and 88°C. In these areas sulphur and iron also emanate and both have coloured the soil in vivid colours.

The landscape is rugged (see here and here) and Chris can’t be spending much time here. To survive he must push on further southwards to the relative greenery of the Sahel.

Kasper remains in an area of farmland and scattered bushes in southern Niger, approximately 18 km from the Nigerian border.

As of Wednesday evening (20 July) Chris was still close to the river Po, on the edge of the Po delta. He has been overtaken by Martin in terms of progress south – will he leave soon for the push on into Africa? His next transmission period begins tonight, when we might find out.

Kasper has moved a few km’s north, and has settled in an area with trees surrounding small pools near the village of Aguié in southern Niger. He has been in this area since Tuesday (19 July) at least.

Lyster is still languishing in Norfolk. Having remained so long on the breeding grounds, it will be interesting to see whether he compensates with a fast migration when he finally leaves.

Having been near Milan since 4 July, Martin has made a dash for it in recent days. Yesterday afternoon (21 July) he was in the “toe” of Italy, about 15km (9 miles) from the Straits of Messina. He appears to be ready to cross over to Sicily and then presumably into Tunisia ready for his desert crossing…

This new location provides interesting evidence about the route Martin will take into Africa. We didn’t hear from Kasper between Rome and southern Algeria – did he too travel the length of Italy before taking this route into Africa?
 

New positions received today (22 July), show that Clement has moved 93km (56 miles) SE along the Ferlo river system since Wednesday (20 July). Having gone so far west initially, it will be interesting to see how much he compensates with an easterly movement.

Kasper successfully completed his desert crossing in the early hours of Sunday (17 July), having moved 1,070km (670 miles) due south in just over two days. He stopped just inside Niger, very close to the border with Nigeria, between the towns of Maradi and Zinder. The google earth map shows that the area is well served by seasonal watercourses and although this is still an arid region, it should be green enough now to provide plenty of food for Kasper as he recuperates from his epic journey.

Since his stopover north of Rome, Kasper has moved a total of 3,200km (2,000 miles) slightly west of due south in just five days.

On Saturday afternoon (16 July), Martin remained in the area near Milan that he has been staging in since 4 July. Presumably, he is resting and feeding up in preperation for his journey south.