Updates from our Cuckoos

Sicne our last update PJ has flown a further 405 km (252 miles) west within Ivory Coast to his current location in western Ivory Coast. He is now 40 km (25 miles) west of Ivory Coast's third largest city, Daloa. He passed through this area in March 2018, before settling near Lake Kossou and crossing the Sahara on 6th April. 

A couple of updates from Tennyson's tag arrived at around 20:00 last night, showing that he had left Congo and had made it to south west Benin, close to the border with Togo.

The latest news, received early yesterday morning (8th March) is that Carlton II has flown 622 km (387 miles) north from his last location in central Gabon to his current location in western Cameroon. He is now approximately 100 km (62 miles) north-west of the capital Yaounde. Last year he arrived in Ivory Coast on 15th March so he may not hang around long in Cameroon before pressing on west. 

An update received from Valentine's tag late last night shows that he has flown 847 km (526 miles) North from his wintering area in Gabon to a new location in dense rainforest in central Republic of the Congo. He is now just 100 km (62 miles) south-west of another Thetford Cuckoo, Tennyson. 

Over the last ten days PJ has been blazing a trail across west Africa, starting in Cameroon and ending in Ivory Coast, a total distance of 1,733 km (1,077 miles). At 10am on Tuesday 25th February he was in Nigeria but he didn't hang around, as by 18:50 that day he had crossed over Benin and was in or over Togo. We next heard from him at 17:28 yesterday (27th Feb) when he was in western Ghana, near the border with Ivory Coast. The latest update which arrived late last night showed that PJ had made it into eastern Ivory Coast and was 58 km (36 miles) west of the Ghana - Ivory Coast border. PJ has stopped off in Ivory Coast during his northward migration in all previous years but he normally stops further west, nearer Lake Kossou. This is likely to be his last major stop before he attempts to cross the Sahara so it is important that he finds good feeding opportunities here. In previous years he has departed Ivory Coast between 6th and 13th April, so he is likely to remain here for several weeks before tackling the desert. 

A very poor location from Valentine's tag in the last few days suggests that he is in the middle of the Gulf of Guinea, around 1,400km (890 miles) offshore. We don't believe this to be the case but it could be an indication that he is on the move. It will be interesting to see where he pops-up, fingers crossed it will be somewhere north of Angola and not out to sea. Watch this space.

Since moving in to central Congo around a month ago Tennyson has been spending his time moving around the rainforest in his location. We are receiving lots of infoamtion from his tag that shows he has been frequenting an area of around 30sq KM (16sq miles). It will be interesting to see whem he makes his first move north.

A good quality location from Senan's tag during the morning of 20 February showed that he is in Congo, very close to the border with Gabon. It could be that he didn't spend very long in northern Gabon and that he has been in northern Congo for the last month or so, an area where other tagged Cuckoos have spent the midwinter period.

PJ hasn't moved far since arriving in Cameroon but information from his tag received during the last couple of days show he is alive and well. In previous years he has started the second leg of his journey around the end of February, so he could move west any day now.

A couple of poor quality locations from Carlton II's tag during the early hours of 21 February show that he is 223km (138 miles), north of his wintering area in Gabon. He is still in Gabon but closer to the border with Congo and on the southern edge of the Minkebe National Park. This is his first movement north since arriving in Gabon in early November.