Updates from our Cuckoos

Dudley is still settled in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and still close to the river. We last heard from him at 05.17 on 15 December.

Since arriving in the Democratic Republic of Congo, David has moved further south and is now on the southern edge of the rainforest. We last heard from in at 23.48 on 18 December.

Since arriving in Angola Chris has moved another 178km (110 miles) further south and west. He seems to be heading towards Luanda and the area that he spent last winter in. We last heard from him at 17.56 on 18 December.

Since arriving in Gabon Chester has settled in an area of rainforest in the north west of the country, close to the border with Equatorial Guinea. His last location signal was at 06.30 on 19 December.

Ash and Hennah have recently left Lake Mai. Hennah travelled 520km (325 miles) to the west, and in doing so moved to Gabon, while Ash moved 310km (195 miles) north-east. This may be due to slightly dryer conditions during November. Gabon appears to be experiencing wetter  conditions so Hennah may have made a good move.  

Derek and Emsworthy have recently moved westwards and are now south-west of  the Site Lac Tele-Likouala Aux Herbes area. Chris had also been in the area before moving south to Angola, possibly due to dryer conditions in that area this year. 

Derek has moved south to Congo and is now deep in the swamp forests where fellow East Anglian Cuckoo Chris has previously spent some of the winter months. 

We are concerned about whether we will receive further transmissions from Peter and Waller. They were in the same area and just 5km apart from each other, close to the Congo river in Democratic Republic of Congo, when signals were last received. Looking at the map, they seem to be in an area of unbroken canopy so the solar-powered tags may not be able to charge as they are not receiving light. The worry when batteries cannot charge over several months is that they may start to degrade and are not then able to switch on again when they do receive light. We will have to wait and see whether we receive further signals from the tags in future. 

As of the evening of 14 December Hennah was no longer on the shores of Lac Mai-Ndombe in DRC. He had moved 530km (329 miles) west and was in Gabon, close to the southern border with Congo. We now have two Cuckoos in Gabon. Chester is in north east Gabon, close to the border with Equatorial Guinea.

Having previously wintered in the swamp forests in Congo during the first two years of the project (2011/12 and 2012/13), Chris surprised us last year with his movement to Angola. We were intrigued to see whether he would stay in the swamp forests again this year or head further south to where he spent the later part of last winter. Now we have our answer! Signals received yesterdy afternoon revealed that he was once again in Angola, having travelled 685km (425 miles). Both he and Skinner are currently a bit further north-east of the locations they chose last year.