Updates from our Cuckoos

It seems Victor might have had an interesting flight over the desert. He started his crossing in a southeasterly direction but about a third of the way into the desert he began heading west and continued on this track all the way to Burkina Faso and the southern edge of the desert. Burkina Faso has been his staging area for the last two years, in 2017 he arrived here on 19 Jul and on 1 August in 2016.

It is interesting to look at the winds during his crossing. For the first part, when he was heading east, he was flying into a light headwind coming from the southeast, roughly at the point he started heading west he met a light headwind coming from the southwest. We know that birds prefer to fly into light headwinds, doing so gives them a greater degree of control over their flight than a tailwind would, but it is great to see this in action. Of course if the headwind is too strong birds will sit it out until conditions improve.

Thomas is on the brink of his desert crossing on the northern edge of the desert in the Anti Atlas Mountains of Morocco. If he crosses in a straight line from here he will cross at the desert's narrowest point, around 1,900km (1,200 miles). Next stop Mali?

The poor locations received during the last few days were right, Bowie was crossing the desert. Yesterday evening his tag showed that he had successfully crossed the Sahara and was in northern Cameroon close to the Waza National Park. The park is largely open savannah forest with the yaere floodplain to the north. It will be interesting to see how long Bowie remains here, recuperating after the 2,800km (1,700 miles) flight over the desert.

Knepp is very close to the Portuguese border. Another 5km (3 miles) and he would have crossed the border into Portugal and added a new country to those that our tagged Cuckoos have visited so far. He is currently close to the Spanish town of Trabazos.

Cameron has begun his desert crossing. A series of locations received from his tag during the evening of 10 July show that he is about a third of the way into the desert and close to the Libyan border. The winds in this part of the desert are currently light and from the northeast, which should help him on his way. 

Thomas didn't stay long in northern Spain, two days in fact, before heading off south. During the evening of 9 July his tag told us he was in southeast Spain just to the east of Granada. It will be interesting to see how long he stays here before launching his Sahara desert crossing.

Carlton II is in northwest Spain. During the early hours of 9 July his tag gave his location to the southwest of Leon. Since leaving Carlton Marshes in Suffolk he has flown 1,266km (787 miles) and is about a fifth of the way through his journey.

Over the weekend, Victor's tag showed that he was in Algeria and on the northern edge of the Sahara, but around breakfast on 9 July, three poor locations from his tag suggest he has already begun his desert crossing and that he was to the south of the Grand Erg Oriental Desert. This puts him around a third of the way into his desert flight. 

Having spent time in southeastern France, it was open to debate which route Thomas might take as both Sapin and Italy were options from there. There is no doubt now though. He is currently in Catalonia, in the wooded hills just to the north of Barcelona

PJ is in Spain - just. Around breakfast on 7 July locations from his tag showed he was in the Spanish Pyrenees, just to the north of Benasque. On his two previous migrations he launched his desert crossing from his stopover site in France, so it is interesting to see him crossing into Spain. It will also be interesting to see what he does next.