Updates from our Cuckoos

The poor location we received from Knepp’s tag on 4 March suggested that he was on the move, and now we know he really was. We received another poor location on 6 March which put him in central southern Nigeria but it wasn’t until 11pm on 8 March, when we received a couple of good quality locations from his tag, that we knew where he was.  Knepp is in Ivory Coast, 2,353km (1,462 miles) from his stopover site in Gabon.

A couple of poor locations received from Carlton II’s tag around 8am on 10 March show him in Cameroon, 316km (196 miles) north of his wintering location in Gabon. It will be interesting to see where he is when we next hear from him. The locations we have suggest that he is around 100km (60 miles) southeast of the Cameroon capital Yaounde. Until we get good quality locations from Carlton II’s tag his map will still show him in Gabon.

On Tuesday this week, PJ was still in Cameroon but he has since flown 2,085 Km (1,295 miles) west to Ivory Coast. He stopped briefly in Benin en-route. He is now 180 Km (111 miles) north west of the capital Yamoussoukro. We expect this to be PJ's last stop before he crosses the Sahara. In 2017 he left Ivory Coast to cross the Sahara on 8th April and in 2018 he departed on the 6th April.

Having spent the last month in Cameroon PJ is now on his way west.  A couple of poor locations around breakfast on 5 March showed he was on the move and in western Cameroon. By mid-morning he was in central Nigeria and by the early evening had crossed the border into Benin, completing a journey of 897km (557 miles) in 12 hours. This puts his average speed for this journey at 46mph. He is currently in an area of open forest in southern, central Benin. His map will update automatically overnight to show his new position in Benin.

After the poor location from Robinson’s tag on 2 March he checked in again on 4 March and surprised us all – he wasn’t in Nigeria, he was much further west and in Ivory Coast. He is now just under 2,000km (1,250 miles) from his wintering location in Gabon and is in fairly open forest to the north of the town of Kouassidatekrou.

Having spent the whole of February in the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary, on the 1 March Thomas moved 65km (41 miles) north and west leaving it behind him. He is currently in farmland to the north of Adipke, Nigeria.

During the last few days Sherwood has moved north and east and has crossed the border into the Republic of the Congo. During this time he has travelled 145km (90 miles). He is just to the north of the Djoua River and the border with Gabon.

Lambert is still our most southerly tagged Cuckoo but he has begun to move north. In the early hours of 3 March his tag placed him in southern Congo, 366km (228 miles) north and east of his coastal stopover location in Angola.

Around breakfast on 4 March we received a poor location from Knepp’s tag that placed him in central Cameroon, 569km (353 miles) north and west of his most recent location in Gabon. We will have to wait for good quality locations from his tag to confirm this but it does look like he has started his move into West Africa.