Updates from our Cuckoos

Having spent over two months on the northern edge of the Teke Plateau, Raymond has moved 245km (152 miles) east towards the Congo River. He is currently between the Congo and Sangha rivers, in dense rainforest. The battery charge on his tag is now much better, so we should hear from him much more frequently.

Victor is still settled in the gallery forest that he has been in for almost a month now. In 2017 he began his journey west on 9 March but he didn’t arrive at his current site until 14 February. It could be that we see him move west any day now.

Thomas is still close to the border with Cameroon and just to the east of the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary. It might not be too long before we see Thomas make a concerted move west.

Selborne didn’t hang around in Ghana. Having spent a week there he headed west again, 687km (426 miles) west into Guinea, overflying Ivory Coast on the way. Presumably he will stay here a little longer and prepare for his desert crossing. In 2016 he crossed the Sahara on 25 March and on 24 March in 2017.

PJ is still in the gallery forest to the south of Lake Mbakou but in the last couple of days he has moved a short distance to the west. It will be interesting to see when we next hear from his tag if this was the start of his journey into West Africa.

Lambert seems settled in Angola, for now, but it might not be too long before he begins the long journey back. Currently our most southerly Cuckoo, Lambert is just under 3,500km (just over 2,000 miles) behind Selborne who is leading the pack and is in Guinea, West Africa.

Like several of our tagged Cuckoos, Knepp is in dense rainforest and, judging by the low battery charge on his tag is spending much of his time under the canopy. We last heard from his tag on 13 February and he was still settled to the north of Mwagne National Park, Gabon.

We seem to be hearing from Carlton II’s tag about once a week at the moment when we should be hearing around couple of days or so. However, he is settled in an area of dense rainforest and is presumably spending quite a bit of time under the canopy, which means that the solar panel on the tag is not charging the battery as well as it would in full sunlight. The data we are receiving from the tag shows that the battery charge is quite low. Once he moves into more open habitat this should resolve itself and we should hear from Carlton II more frequently.

We haven’t heard from Cameron’s tag since early October and at the time we were hopeful that he would pop-up again. The battery level had been getting progressively lower during the last month that we have information for; however, the temperature data showed that he was alive. We have to conclude that Cameron’s tag has failed and that we won’t hear from him again.

Bowie is still to the south of the Niari River in southwest Congo. The last location we received from his tag was just before 9pm on 12 February and it showed a movement to the north of the patch of forest he has been settled in. This may well be the start of the second leg of his journey back and it will be interesting to see where he is when we next hear from his tag.