Updates from our Cuckoos

After his big move west from the Congo Basin to West Africa, Ellis has now relocated within Guinea. He has flown an additional 175km (108 miles) north west and is now 30km (18.5 miles) north of the city of Kissidougou in southern Guinea. He is just 22km (14.5 miles) south west of the area where he spent several weeks on his way north last year.

Scottish Cuckoo Ellis arrived in the lush tropical rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in early October and has remained there ever since. A new update received on Saturday 18 Feb 2023 showed that he had started his spring migration back to the UK. He has flown 3,250km (2,000miles) west from DRC to Guinea in West Africa. This is the first big step in his return migration. Last year he arrived in Guinea on 13 Feb and remained until 27 March when he embarked on his crossing of the Sahara. By 20 April he was back in Scotland. Heavy rain is expected in eastern Guinea later this week and Ellis will be planning on these rains providing plenty of food for him to build up his fat reserves before tackling the next leg of his journey north.  

Grove II arrived in Gabon in early October and although he moved a few hundred km east in mid December he has remained in Gabon. We last received an update from Grove II's tag on 6 January when he was in dense rainforest in eastern Gabon. Assuming he has remained here he is currently close to the border with the Republic of the Congo, approximately 50km north of the Gabon town of Okondja. Hopefully the radio silence has been caused by the dense rainforest canopy and we will receive further updates when he emerges. This is the first year of winter tracking for Grove II.  

Joe arrived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in late September and remained there until 14 January when he moved west and crossed over into the Republic of the Congo. He has remained there since and is currently in the banks of the Sangha River in north eastern Republic of the Congo. As Joe was tagged in 2022, this is our first winter of tracking data for him. 

Victor II spent last winter in Gabon and the Republic of the Congo and he has done the same this winter. Last year he moved into northern Gabon on 1 Feb and he remained here until 14 March when he progressed west to Ghana. He then moved quickly to Ivory Coast where he remained until 14 April when he began his desert crossing. If he follows last year's timetable we will see Victor II moving further north in Gabon any day. 

Ellis arrived in the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the end of September and he has stayed there ever since. He is in the same area that he spent last winter. Last year he moved to Cameroon on 24 January and by 31 Jan he was in Ghana. He then passed through Ivory Coast to Guinea where he spent a few weeks before crossing the Sahara in late March. If he follows the same pattern as last year we should see Ellis starting his spring migration very soon.  

Over the past week JAC has flown 460km (285 miles) north east, flying from his last location in the Republic of the Congo over the border into the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Last winter he moved into DRC in early November and remained here until late February when he moved to Cameroon. His current location in DRC is very close to the area he visited in January 2022.  

Keen Cuckoo followers will know that we have been growing increasingly concerned for Cuckoo Cooper as we stopped receiving updates from him shortly after he arrived in Nigeria in early September. Having looked closely at the tag data our Cuckoo scientist Dr Chris Hewson has deduced that sadly Cooper has perished. We don't know how he died, he seemed to be taking a fairly "safe" and direct route towards the Congo but he is one of two birds to have perished in eastern Nigeria this year. Cooper has given us an additional run of valuable data to add to our growing knowledge of Cuckoo ecology.

We are sad to report that we have heard the last from Worcestershire Cuckoo Ripple. Having survived his unexpectedly long stop in the Sahara, we were very optimistic that he would succeed in making it to his wintering grounds. But alas it wasn't to be and it appears that he has died in eastern Nigeria. He has given us a very valuable series of data showing his journey from Worcestershire via West Africa to Nigeria which will add to our growing knowledge of the challenges our Cuckoos face. 

Since our last update Joe has been exploring the tropical rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He in now deep in the forest approximately 100km east of Lake Mai-Ndombe in western DRC.