Updates from our Cuckoos

There have been no signals from Derek's tag since the end of August. Looking back at the data we received shows the battery charge was ok and there is no evidence of death. However, the most likely explanation for a sudden loss of signals is that Derek has sadly died. 

There have been no further signals from Hennah's tag since the middle of August. We think that his tag battery charge is to blame for this as it had dwindled even further before the last messages. The good news is that the temperature data indicated that he was still alive. Signals have been intermittant for some time and between February and April of this year we also went without signals, before he then surprised us by transmitting back in the UK safe and sound. Hopefully we will receive some more in future so that we can continue to follow his journey. 

Vigilamus is the third of our Cuckoos to continue south to the Congo rainforest this year  Having left southern Chad sometime after the 2 October, by the morning of the 4 October he was in northern Republic of Congo, 890km (555 miles) further south. By the 6 he had covered a further 540km (335 miles)  to the Democratic Republic of Congo, just south of Mbandaka, and was in the Congolian Swamp forests that Chris spent the winter in the first two years we tracked him.

Since the 3 October, Peckham has left Chad and been slowly travelling further south, covering 1300km ( 810 miles)  to reach a new location in the Gabon, in the the depths of the Congo Rainforest by the early morning of 8 October.  Three of our other tagged Cuckoos are also in the rainforest, although they are further east in Democratic Republic of Congo.

With no further news from Chris the Cuckoo, whose last transmission was from the middle of the desert, we have to conclude that he has sadly died. Chris was satellite-tagged in spring 2011 and we have been following his journey for the last four years as he traveled to and from Africa. See our celebration of Chris' journey and just how much he has contributed to our understanding of Cuckoo migration.

Since the last update, Stanley has travelled 700 miles to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Stanley is now in the same area that he spent the winter of 2014/15 in, next to the River Congo.

Stanley has moved 370km (230 miles) southeast and has left Nigeria. He is now in northern Cameroon.

Charlie has carried on, apparently skirting the Tibesti Mountains where a number of our Cuckoos stopped this year for the first time, to make it across the desert. He is currently located in southern Chad.

Charlie, the last of our tagged Cuckoos still in Europe, has finally left and crossed over the sea from his last location in Greece to reach Africa! We were beginning to worry that he was still in Greece but signals on the evening of the 14 September show he was in Libya. Since then he has been making his way south across the desert. 

Looking back at previous years, the only two Cuckoos to arrive in Africa later were BB on the 15 September 2014 and Lloyd on 3 October 2012. Both these Cuckoos also took the easterly route, heading to Libya but from Italy instead of Greece, as Charlie has done. 

Since the 10 September Coo has moved 810km (500 miles) further south, flying over Central African Republic.  By 13 September he had made it to northern Democratic Republic of Congo and areas of lowland forest. He is the first of our tagged Cuckoos to make it to the Congo Rainforest this year.