Updates from our Cuckoos

Ash had moved on from Ghana and continued on to Ivory Coast by the end of February. By the 2nd March he moved 150km (96 miles) north-west and was close to Bouake, the second largest city in Ivory Coast. 

David has moved west, leaving Central African Republic (CAR) behind and travelling 515km (320 miles) south-west to Cameroon. This is very similar timing to last year when he made the move from CAR to Cameroon on 13 March, before then moving to Mali by the end of March. Will he do the same again this year? 

The last signals from Jake's tag were back in mid-January when he was in Congo but recently received signals mean that he is back on the map and all appears to be well. He, like several of the other Cuckoos, has travelled west. His last location was in Benin, close to the border with Togo, in West Africa.   

At 00.27am on 15 March, Livingstone's tag transmitted from Cameroon. Over the next 18 hours he went on to fly over Nigeria, Benin and Togo to reach Ghana by 18.00pm on the same day. This mammoth trip is roughly 1450km (915 miles) long which means he was probably travelling at an average speed of just under 50mph!

He probably started off from his previous position in Central African Republic earlier that night, several hours before the first location in Cameroon, which makes the total flight about 1750km in about 22 hours. The last bit (from western Nigeria onwards) was done in the daytime, which is very unusual when Cuckoos aren't crossing the desert.

He is now north of Lake Volta, where he will likely spend some time feeding up and recovering from this incredible journey. 

Stanley has continued on from Nigeria and has travelled 1295km (805 miles) almost directly west to reach western Ghana. He is now further west than Dudley, also in Ghana, and very close to the border with Ivory Coast.  

Stanley is on the move! Since the 5 March, Stanley has covered 790km (490 miles) north-west across Cameroon and is now in Nigeria. He is the fourth tagged Cuckoo this year to  travel in to West Africa and make a start on his return migration . 

Dudley has been busy and covered hundreds of miles in the last few days. His last location was in Congo on 19 February but on the 3 March he was 1020km (640 miles) further north-west, and within the border of Nigeria. Over the duration of 3 March he continued moving westwards, travelling 950km (590 miles) to Lake Volta in Ghana by the afternoon of 4 March. He is the third of our tagged Cuckoos to move into West Africa. 

Chester and Dudley are the only two Cuckoos, from who we are receiving regular transmissions, who are currently within the Congo rainforest. We expect them to move north to the forest edge shortly as other Cuckoos have done.

In the last few days Chris has moved to the northern edge of the rainforest, having left his location in Congo and travelled 630km (390 miles). He has flown across the entire breadth of the forest spanning Congo and Central African Republic, at which point it is slightly narrower than to either the east and west. 

He is now in Central African Republic where Emsworthy, Livingstone and David are currently. Livingstone has also only moved to this area recently, travelling 590km (370 miles) north-east from Gabon. We now have five Cuckoos on the edge of the forest getting ready for the next stage of their migration to West Africa, where two of our Cuckoos already are. 

Hennah has settled in an area of close rainforest in Gola Rainforest National Park - a world famous national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Since he settled here, his tag has not been charging well, due presumably to the dense rainforest canopy. When we last received a signal from his tag the charge was low but the temperature showed that Hennah was alive and well as far as we can tell.