Updates from our Cuckoos

Chris is now within the area that he has spent most of the last two mid-winter periods in, just inside Congo, on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. He arrived here on 26 September, a day later than he arrived at this location last year.

Waller, Chris, Sussex and BB are all still in Chad and sending regular transmissions. Last year Chris was the first of our tagged Cuckoos to move south of Chad, arriving in the Central African Republic by the 18 September. Not long after this the Cuckoos moved on to the Congo Rainforest. 

Chris has made his leap to Africa too, heading from his location in Sicily straight across the Sahara to Chad. This makes him the third Cuckoo this year to reach Africa and the first that we can confirm to have successfully crossed the Sahara Desert.  Positions received early this morning show that he is 440km (275 km) south-east of Lake Chad. 

Since the last location received at 4pm on 21 July near Sicily, Chris had covered 3035km (1885 miles) in as little as three and a half days, arriving in Chad on 24 July.

Last year, Chris crossed the desert and arrived just north of Lake Chad on 19 July. In 2011 he arrived in Chad on 25 July so the timings are really similar. In both cases he remained in Chad until mid September/early October before then moving into Central African Republic. 

Chris has left the Po watershed and by the 22 July had travelled 765km (475 miles) to the north-west of Sicily. Last year, after a short stop in the Po Watershed, he also had a short stop  in Sicily  before embarking  on his crossing of the Sahara Desert just two days later. This year he arrived in Italy on 4 July and has spent more time at this stopover than he did last year, when he spent a larger amount of time in Belgium before heading south.  

Chris has covered another 75km (45 miles) heading south from the Venetian Lagoon to the Po Valley. His last transmissions revealed he was at a location close to the River Po, near Ariano nel Polesine in the Province of Rovigoa. This area has proved popular with other tagged Cuckoos, with three birds spending almost a month in the watershed of the River Po in the first year, and six stopping here last year.  Several British-ringed birds had previously been reported here before the project started and tracking them has confirmed this is a very important stop-over site for British Cuckoos.  In the first year of the project, Chris spent a month of feeding up in this area before quickly moving south, having put on enough fat to enable him to undertake not only the crossing of the Mediterranean Sea but also the crossing of the Sahara desert at its widest point. 

Poor quality locations from Chris on the 1 July revealed that he had left his position in Belgium and was travelling in a south-easterly direction. Two days later when the tag next transmitted, Chris had crossed the Alps and was close to the banks of the Venetian lagoon, north-east of Venice. 

Chris has become the third Cuckoo to leave the UK! Poor quality locations received on the afternoon of 21 June show that Chris had left his position close to Mildenhall and was in the middle of his crossing of the English Channel.  A good location a couple of hours after this placed him in Belgium about 30km (19 miles) inland close to the municipality Wingene in the Belgian province of West Flanders. 

Chris remains in the Cavenham Pits area, south of the east end of Cavenham Heath., where he has been since the 5 May. His stay has already been as long as it was last year so perhaps he will be the first of this year’s cuckoo to start his migration and move away soon?