Updates from our Cuckoos

PJ has left Niger and, by the 11 October, had travelled 690km (430 miles) to Nigeria. He is currently 75km (45 miles) south of Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria. We don't yet know where PJ will spend the mid-winter months but he is still around 1,300km (800 miles) from the area in central Congo where quite a few of our birds do.

Bill the Cuckoo was named by BBC’s the One Show in honour of comedian, musician, actor, TV and radio presenter and author Bill Bailey, to coincide with the publication of his new book Bill Bailey’s Remarkable Guide to British Birds. The book draws on his lifelong love of birds and birdwatching.

Jack hasn't been in a hurry heading south but, by the 4th October, he had finally left Europe and his last position in the toe of Italy and embarked upon his desert crossing!  Signals received during the 4 October showed him travelling across Libya.  

Since then poor quality signals show him making his way south through Chad on the 6 October before stopping north of Ati Airport. Signals received today show that he hasn't moved on from this spot which is a little worrying due to the poor habitat he looks to be in. We would have expected him to continue a little further south, where conditions would be much improved, to recover from his journey. 

From his last location in Nigeria 161321 has headed off in a south-easterly direction, travelling around 965km ( 600 miles) to reach Equatorial Guinea by the 5 October. He didn't spend long here though and by the 8 October he had covered a further 450km (280 miles) to a location in Gabon, near it's southern border with Congo. 

Although PJ is still in the area he arrived in in southern Niger, he does seem to be moving around a series of creeks and areas with sparse tree cover. There are also small areas of cultivation too, so it may be a good stopover site, if a little drier than most of our Cuckoos choose. Looking at what the other birds are doing, it might not be too long before PJ begins to head east.

Peckham is still in the area of southern Chad in which he arrived in mid-September, although over the last few days he did undertake a 146km (90 miles) round trip into the Manda National Park, only to return to his stopover site. Perhaps this is in preparation for his push south into the Congo rainforest? Only time will tell.

Locations received on 4 October show Markoo is still in northwest Nigeria and is still alive and well. He has been here for a month but it might not be long before he heads south and east and into the Congo rainforest.

A location received on 26 September showed Larry close to the border of Chad and Central African Republic, but by the evening of 28 September he had cross CAR and was in Congo, just north of the Equator. Three locations received during the early morning on 1 October showed that he had crossed the Equator. He is currently in forest close to Ekoungounou. His mid-winter location in 2015 was in northern Angola, a further 750km (465 miles) south of where he is at present.

Jack is still heading south but doesn't seem to be in a hurry. He is currently in the toe of Italy between the towns of Camocelli Superiore and Camocelli Inferiore. This really ought to be the launch pad for his desert crossing, unless he heads right to the very southern tip of Italy, 50km (31 miles) to the south west. It is almost three months since Jack left Britain, the longest migration duration through Europe that we have experienced from any of our satellite tagged Cuckoos. We would expect him to cross the desert any day now and should hear from him late on 4 October or early on 5 October. Will he have made the jump across the Mediterranean? We will have to wait and see.

We were hopeful that when, and if, Disco Tony's tag burst back into life it would show that he had successfully crossed the Sahara. However, a series of poor locations received on 4 October show that he is still in southern France and we have to conclude that we have lost him. Last year he left northern Italy on 19 August and was by Lake Chad by the end of the month. Even though he was running very late this year he wasn't the only one, and we hoped that he still might be OK but it doesn't seem to be the case and we have to say a very sad goodbye to Disco Tony.