Updates from our Cuckoos

Stanley has left the Congo and skipped over the border into the swamp forest within the Democratic Republic of Congo’ s Tumba Lediima Natural Reserve. 

In the last few days, Chester has moved 445km (275 miles) south from his location in the north of Burkina Faso and he is now in Ivory Coast. He is still very far west of all the other Cuckoos so it is perhaps a little surprising that he has chosen to move south rather than east. He has, however, moved to Comoé National Park , a World Heritage Site due to the diversity of plant life present around the Comoé River including pristine patches of tropical rain forest that are usually only found further south. 

Having been in Central African Republic until 4 October, by the 6 Ash was 340 km (210 miles) further south in the north-east of Democratic Republic of Congo. He is now just 40km (25 miles) to the east of Dudley's location.  

From Chad, Hennah appears to have moved south to Central African Republic by early on the morning of the 1 October. Several poor quality locations were received which aren't shown on the map. Since then he has travelled 990km (615 miles) further to Democratic Republic of Congo, south of the equator, and is one of the most southerly Cuckoos. Hopefully good quality signals will be received shortly to show this new location on the maps. 

Since the 28 September Waller has been moving south, reaching Central African Republic by 29 September and continuing on to the Democratic Republic of Congo by the 1 October. He has travelled 1170km (725 miles) since 28  September and has now joined other Cuckoos in the Congo rainforest.

Both Sherwood birds 134957 and 134955 have moved over 700km (470 miles) east from their locations in Burkina Faso in the last few days and are now in northern Nigeria. This leaves just Chester in Burkina Faso who becomes our most westerly bird by over 960km (595 miles). 

Skinner has travelled 925km (575 miles) from his location in north-western Nigeria and is now in western Cameroon. Other Cuckoos who had been in the north of Cameroon have all moved on due to poor conditions so it will be interesting to see whether conditions are better in the south-west and how long Skinner remains here for. 

Signals received on 22 September show that Livingstone was moving south and was in Central African Republic. He continued moving throughout the night and into the 23 September to reach the southern most tip of Cameroon where the Northwest Congolian Lowland Forest meets areas of the Congolian Swamp Forest, 820km (510 miles) from his previous location in Chad. By the 25 September he had covered a further 475km (290 miles) and was in central Congo.

David was still in Chad on 21 September but by the evening of the 23 September he had travelled 1085km (675 miles) south to the Congo rainforest in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Six of the tracked cuckoos (Peter, Dudley, Emsworthy, David, Livingstone and Stanley) are already within the Congo rainforest block. The first of these to arrive was Stanley on 16 September, the earliest of the tracked cuckoos ever to arrive there by 12 days! He was followed by Emsworthy on 19 and Livingstone and Dudley on 23. Previous to this year, the earliest Cuckoo had been Chris, who arrived there on 25 September in 2012.

Since then, David arrived on 24 and Peter on 28 September 2014. David was five and four days earlier than in 2012 and 2013 respectively whilst Livingstone was 13 days earlier than last year. It is very interesting to note that all four of the cuckoos who beat the previous earliest arrival date came from northern Cameroon and the adjacent part of Chad, a region that has received over 50mm less rainfall than usual over the past month and more than 100mm less over the past three months.