Updates from our Cuckoos

In the last few days Peckham has journeyed a short distance of 90km (just over 50 miles) north east and is now in the Republic of Congo. He is one of several Cuckoos to begin heading north. 

PJ has moved north and is currently in the central Congo rainforest close to Tsongo-Pa. He has been there since 8 January but we have received no further signals since then. This is likely because he is beneath the rainforest canopy and the solar panel on his tag is unable to charge the tag batteries very well.

Markoo has headed north again and is now in DRC, close to the border with Cabinda, a disputed northern exclave of Angola. He is currently 48km (30 miles) south and east of Cabinda city.

Larry has left his mid-winter location in Angola and has moved north and west into DRC and the Congo rainforest. He will probably stay here for a month or so, feeding up to fuel his move into West Africa sometime in February.

We haven't heard from David for a few weeks but on 12 January we received a poor location that showed he was still at his winter location in DRC. We have 'lost' David during the winter months in previous years and think that he must spend time under the canopy in the forest, resulting in a poor charge for the batteries from the solar panel on the tag. Once he pops out into better light we should receive more locations from the tag.

A poor quality location received from Bill on 13 January shows that he has moved north into DRC. We will have to wait until we receive better quality locations from his tag to confirm his exact location.

Over the course of a few days Victor has headed north, covering a total distance of 950km (590 miles), and arriving in northern Gabon by 3 January. Could this be the start of his return home?

It's more than likely that this is the first northward 'phase' of his annual journey but doesn't necessarily mean he'll continue. He will probably now stay in that region for a couple of weeks before moving north of the forest zone and then moving into West Africa. As he was one of the birds that went so far south this year, he may simply have started early to return to the area that would be a typical mid-winter location for our cuckoos most years.

David remained in the Parc National De La Salonga Nord in the Democratic Republic of Congo until 7 December when new signals indicated he was on the way south, as in previous years, to the Parc National De La Salonga Sud. He has made this small move to the southern area of park and surrounding areas each year since we started following him in 2012, though the timings have been slightly varaible each year. 

Signals received from Victor's tag today show that he has left the area he was in, close to PJ, and headed 130km (81 miles) north within Angola. He is now less than 5 miles from both Larry and Bill!  

Cuckoo 161324 has received a name, Victor! He has been kindly named by Mrs Ann Masters in memory of her husband Vic. Good luck on your return journey Victor.