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Updates from our Cuckoos

Read the latest updates from our Cuckoos on their epic migration between the UK and tropical Africa, or track their movements in real-time on our Cuckoo migration map.

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Future transmissions from Maji uncertain

09 Sep 2014
We have not heard from Maji since 10 August. When we last did, the temperature sensor readings on the tag indicated that he was still alive but the charge on his tag was very low.
 
Maji at first appeared that he would be using the southeastern migration route after crossing Germany, headed to the Austrian Alps. Many birds on the southeastern route have stopped in Italy's Po Valley, which Maji looked like he was going to do. . .until he overshot and ended up over the sea north of Corsica. The northern Appenine mountains in Italy would normally act as a catching feature to prevent this sort of overshoot, but Maji may have found the gap between the Appenines and the southern extent of the Alps, got confused when he ended up over the sea, and simply continued on until he reached the next bit of land - in this case, the Balearic Islands. At this point, he seemed to figure out where he was, as he oriented towards the nearest bit of land and headed for the Spanish coast south of Barcelona.  Here, his movements start to resemble John's in 2012. Maji headed north across the Pyrennes towards the Atlantic Coast of France in the Landes de Gascogne National Park. John also ended up in this same area. It is at this point that Maji’s tag stopped transmitting, and his fate remains unknown. It’s possible that his tag might start transmitting again, but this is looking fairly unlikely.

BB on his way

09 Sep 2014
BB has finally started his southward migration! The trajectory of his migration from northern Italy means that he would have likely passed over the toe of Italy at dawn today, and will perhaps make a short stopover there before continuing on over the Mediterranean and Sahara tonight or tomorrow.
 
The multiple years of data from veteran cuckoos such as BB and Chris are showing just how much variation there can be for an individual bird between years. There can be quite a lot of variation in the consistency of migration timing, and spring schedules are often more tightly fixed than schedules in autumn. The summer in northern Italy has been wetter and cooler than normal, so these conditions together with their age may have made it more difficult for both BB and Chris to fatten up for their migration as quickly as previous years.

Chris returns to Lake Chad

09 Sep 2014
Chris has finally crossed the Sahara and is now in the Lake Chad area. By the early morning of 4 September he was heading south over the Sahara in central Libya, suggesting he had left Sicily on the evening of 2 September. By late morning on the 6, he had completed his desert crossing and was at  his current location at the northern end of Lake Chad. From his northern Italy stopover to Lake Chad, Chris moved over 3,500 km over 5 days in his fourth successful autumn migration.
 
His current position in the Sahel is about 350 km further west than he was in 2011 and 2013 following his desert crossing, but is quite similar to his location following his 2012 crossing. These differences might potentially be attributed to wind drift. It remains to be seen whether Chris rejoins his previous routes south upon leaving Lake Chad, as he did in 2012. Chris will likely stay at his current position to recover condition following his migratory journey. In 2012, he was in the Lake Chad area for about a month before moving further south and east in Chad.
 

134957 remains in Mali

03 Sep 2014

134957 arrived in Mali in the middle of August and has remained there since. He is the most northerly of all the Cuckoos within Africa and we would expect him to move further south and east soon, towards the Congo rainforest. 

BB sitting pretty

03 Sep 2014

Chris is finally on his way over to Africa but BB is still in Italy.  Although 'late' like Chris, signals indicate he is still alive and so we hope that eventually they will both successfully cross the Sahara. It's really interesting that these older birds, Chris, who was tagged in 2011, and BB, who was tagged in 2012, have changed their schedules this year to leave so much later. Is age proving a factor in being able to put on enough fat to to make the tough journey?  

Chris alive and on the move

03 Sep 2014
Chris has finally moved south from the lower Po valley! A series of signals received on 1 September show that he left soon after dark and that he was approaching the west end of Sicily around first light yesterday morning. We expect he will have remained on Sicily before leaving for his desert crossing yesterday evening or tonight. 
 
Chris is currently on a schedule about 6 weeks later than in previous years. We aren't sure why this is but one possible explanation is that he could have been struggling to accumulate the necessary fat deposits due to high parasite loads or some other reduction in body condition. Having been born in 2010, Chris is now quite old for a cuckoo - age-related declines in migratory performance have been noted in other migratory birds, such as Barn Swallows. 

Derek heads east

01 Sep 2014

Since the 27 August Derek left Burkina Faso and headed east. By the 29 August he was in Nigeria and by 31 he was in Cameroon, close to its border with Chad. He has covered over 1800km (1120 miles) in this time and is now one of the more southerly Cuckoos.  

Skinner in Nigeria

27 Aug 2014

By the evening of 25 August, Skinner was on the move again, heading 250km (155  miles) south-east to Nigeria and pausing at a location near Sokoto, close to where the Sokoto river and the Rima river join together. At this time of year there should be regular rainfail.

Dudley becomes our most southerly Cuckoo

22 Aug 2014

Today Dudley has moved 445km (275 miles) in a south-easterly direction and is now in Cameroon. This makes him the most southerly Cuckoo and the first of the Cuckoos this year to transmit from the Congo Basin and the lowland rain forest.

134955 and Chester in Burkina Faso

19 Aug 2014

Cuckoo 134955 has moved east from Mali and is now in Burkina Faso. He has been joined by Chester, who moved on quickly from his location in Mauritania. They are further west than many of the Cuckoos and, by taking the western route through Spain, have a longer journey to get to the Congo Rainforest than some of other Cuckoos but they will have been able to cross the desert at one of its narrowest points.   

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