Chris is still close to the Ubangi River the Congo rainforest.
Updates from our Cuckoos
Read the latest updates from our Cuckoos on their epic migration between the UK and tropical Africa, or track their movements in real-time on our Cuckoo migration map.
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Chris still in the rainforest
21 Oct 2011
Chris stays in the thick of it
14 Oct 2011
On the morning of 13 October Chris was still close to the Ubangi River, northwest of Mbandaka in the Congo rainforest. At that time, he had spent three nights at this location – we had wondered whether he would move straight through the rainforest on his way to the savannahs to the south so this is extremely interesting evidence of him actually staying in and using this rainforest habitat.
Chris in the heart of the Congo
12 Oct 2011
Chris has continued his recent movement from Chad and by the evening of Monday 10 October he had moved a further 320km further south to a position on the border between Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo. He is in an area of apparently continuous, closed, wet forest in the heart of the Congo rainforest, the second largest rainforest on earth after the Amazon. He is a few km’s from the Ubangi River, a major tributary of the Congo River which runs almost parallel to the Ubangi, about 55km to its east at this point.
Chris has taken a more easterly route than the Eurasian Hobbies that were recently satellite tracked from Sweden and does not appeared to have minimised his rainforest crossing to the same extent although if he continues due south he will soon reach the savannas to its south. Having stopped in rather than over-flying the rainforest, it will be very interesting to see whether Chris has moved straight through the area next time his tag transmits...
Chris moves south
06 Oct 2011
On 1st October Chris was still at his long-held position in southern Chad. However, when transmissions started again on the evening of Monday 3 October he had moved 790km almost due south, almost all the way over Central African Republic and stopped 8km from the border with Congo, at the Basse-Lobaye Forest.
He is about 135km ESE of Martin and is now our most southerly cuckoo. He is poised on the northern edge of the Congo basin, to the north of the rainforest. To his south lies the area where many Common Swifts that breed in Britain spend the winter, alongside those from elsewhere in Europe. Although not well explored, the Central African Republic that he has just passed over is likely to hold numerous migrants at this time of year and the Guinea savannah woodlands should be full of Wood Warblers and European Golden Orioles as well as Cuckoos.
No movement from Chris
27 Sep 2011
Messages received two days ago show that Chris is still in southern Chad.
Chris still in no hurry
22 Sep 2011
Chris is still in southern Chad and like the other three closest cuckoos is only making short flights around the immediate vicinity.
Chris in no hurry to move
12 Sep 2011
Chris looks to be well settled in southern Chad, he has been in the same area since 9 August. Having successfully crossed the Sahara he will be in no hurry to move. The onset of the dry season at the end of the month might change this though.
Chris very settled
31 Aug 2011
Chris remains in southern Chad and seems settled in his current location.
Chris stays still
25 Aug 2011
Chris is still stationary in southern Chad. We received an erroneous position for him on Saturday morning (20 August) that placed him in the north-western part of South Sudan (and updated our map at the British Birdfair 2011 to reflect this!) but subsequent locations showed he remained at the location he has been in for most of the time since 25 July.
Chris still in Chad
11 Aug 2011
Chris remains in the same area, about 170km (106 miles) north of the town of Sarh in southern Chad.
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