Updates from our Cuckoos

A series of good locations received from Larry's tag on 22 March showed that he was still in Cameroon. However, he has moved 51km (31 miles) north, and closer to the border with Central African Republic. He is currently in an area of riverine forest 6km (4 miles) from the border.

A good location received from Disco Tony on 13 March showed that he was still in Central African Republic but had moved 78km (48 miles) north, presumably in search of a better feeding area. It may not ne too long before he begins to head west.

Since arriving in Ghana on 5 March Coo seems fairly settled, presumably resting and feeding up for the next leg of his journey home. We last heard from him during the early morning of 24 March, showing that he had moved 52km (32 miles) east and back towards Lake Volta. He is currently close to a large tributary on the northwest edge of the lake.

David has left the Central African Republic and is on his way back. During the evening of 22 March we recieved a good location from David's tag that showed he had overflown Cameroon and was in southern Nigeria, close to the Cross River. He is 900km (560 miles) west of his last stopover.

Locations received from David during the evening of 15 March show that he has moved north, flying 445km (276 miles) into the Central African Republic. He is currently in the same area as two other satellite tagged Cuckoos, Disco Tony and Larry. There has been recent rain in the area and there might be a good source of food that all three of them have homed in on. All three could head west any day now and join Peckham, Stanley, Coo and Vigilamus at the West African stopover.

Stanley seems to have the wind beneath his wings, since lunchtime on 8 March he has travelled a further 793km (493 miles) west to Ivory Coast, flying over Benin, Togo and Ghana on the way. He is Currently close to the River Komoé, 60km (37 miles) from the border with Ghana.

Since we last heard form him Stanley has flown a huge distance. Between the early morning of 1 March and around midday on 8 March he travelled 2,033km (1,263 miles) through Congo and Cameroon into Nigeria. He is currently in eastern Nigeria,102km (63 miles) from the border with Benin.

On the 6 March Vigilamus was in southern Cameroon, presumably preparing for the flight west. Since them he has flown 1,539km (958 miles), through Nigeria, Benin and Togo. He is currently in Ghana, 56km (34 miles) from the border with Ivory Coast. He arrived here during the early morning of 9 March.

Peckham didn't stay long in Benin. A series of high quality locations received from him during the evening of 8 March show that he has continued west, flying through Togo and Ghana into Ivory Coast, and is 697km (433 miles) west of his last location in Benin. He is also further west than any of the other tagged Cuckoos - so far. He is currently in riverine forest between the vilages of Satama-Sokoura, Kakarakro and Dabokrira, and 160km (100 miles) northeast of the capital Yamoussoukro.

Since popping back up we have heard very little from David. It might be that he has moved into deep cover in preparation for the next leg of his journey. In common with several other of our tagged Cuckoos, the next time we hear from him he could be in West Africa.