Updates from our Cuckoos

Peckham has remained in the desert in Chad since his tag first transmitted from there on 1 August. We were quite worried that he may have persished while trying to cross however a quick look at the recent weather conditions in his location in the Tibesti Mountains revealed that the area has had about half an inch of rain in the last week! This may explain why he has stopped there, in what would normally be a rather strange move for any of our Cuckoos. Hopefully he continues onwards shorlty and makes it successfully to south of the Sahara!

Peckham has left Italy, flown over the Mediterranean and arrived in Africa. Passing through Libya he completed a journey of 1900 kilometres (1,175 miles) to reach northern Chad, arriving near the Emi Koussi volcano. He still has a way to go to complete his desert crossing and reach a location in southern Chad where he can rest and refuel safely. 

Derek left Spain and arrived in Morocco, covering a distance of 800 kilometres (500 miles) passing east of the Gibraltar strait. Derek is taking once again taking the westerly route that we have seen him use in previous years and, interestingly, that only English Cuckoos seem to use. So far no Scottish or Welsh birds have ventured through Spain, although it's worth noting that fewer birds from these areas have been tagged compared to English Cuckoos.  In some years, this route has proved problematic, with wild fires, droughts and storms providing challenges for the Cuckoos choosing this route.

David is on the path south not too far from his last position in Bosnia. He flew 210 kilometres (130 miles), returning once again to western Montenegro, as in previous years, and resting near the Lovcen National Park.  The earliest we have received transmissions from Africa from David's tag in the other years of the project is the 4 August and the latest the 25 August so we expect that he will spend a few weeks in the area, unless he is already well-fueled for the journey.  

We now believe that Chester, tagged in spring 2014, died whilst still in the UK this summer. The last signal was received on the 4 June and none have been received since.  Chester dying on the breeding grounds is unusual and this is the first time that we have seen this for a bird that has already been tracked on one migration. It could perhaps be a knock on effect of the cold wet summer we have experienced. In 2012 we saw a similar effect.  

Viator has not continued on from his last transmitted location in Sudan and we think he has perished while making his desert crossing, arguably one of the biggest challenges the Cuckoos face on their migration.  It could be that the cold wet summer we have experienced has had some knock on effect on his migration preparations. In 2012 when it was also very wet we saw a similar effect on the progress of the tagged Cuckoos.   

From Northern Italy, Peckham has flown 930km (575 miles) southeast to a location in the toe of Italy, close to Bovalino, in the region of Calabria. 

A further signal from Viator’s tag shows that he had continued his desert crossing and made it as far as Sudan by the afternoon of the 28 July. 

Since lunchtime on the 26 July, Vigilamus has continued south, covering 1640km (1020 miles), from Libya to complete his desert crossing and transmitting from a location in Chad on the evening of the 28 July.  He is the fourth of our tagged Cuckoos to successfully complete the desert crossing this year. 

David didn’t spend long in the Po Valley before moving on.  Low quality signals received on the 25 July show he had already moved on further eastwards with a good quality signal on 28 confirming that he was in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Last year his tag also transmitted a location from here, though he arrived earlier in July, before moving to Montenegro, a country he has visited each year since 2012, a week later.  He appears to be a bit behind schedule this year so it will be interesting to see how long he spends here and whether he continues to Montenegro before making his crossing to Africa.