Updates from our Cuckoos

Selborne is still settled in the area of rainforest to the south and east of the Ogooue River. He has been in this location for almost two months. There are currently thunderstorms and pretty heavy rain where he is, and the temperature is 31 degrees. The forecast for the next couple of days is for more heavy thunderstorms. No wonder the battery charge on his tag is a little low.

During the last few days of December Robinson moved north, 112km (70 miles). This could be the very beginning of his long flight back to the UK. He has a journey of around 7,000km (4,500 miles) from his current location back to his Sherwood Forest breeding site, via west Africa.

Raymond hasn't moved far since he arrived on the Teke Plateau but he has been providing lots of information. His largest movements have been around 2km at most, with the majority around 500 metres. The battery charge on his tag is at the lower limit of what we would like but the tag still appears to be working well. The current weather is showers and the temperature is 30 degrees.

PJ is still settled pretty much in the middle of the Coutada do Ambriz Reserve in northwest Angola. He has been here for a couple of weeks now and, although we are receiving lots of information from his tag the furthest he has moved during this time is around 500 metres.

Larry hasn't moved much since mid-December, other than short distances. He is currently around 50km (30 miles) from the coastal town of N'zeto, Angola.

Lambert seems settled in the area of forest close to Quimal, Angola, although he has moved a short distance north and east in the last few days.

On the last day of 2018 Knepp moved back inland and is now in the location he moved south and west from a few weeks ago. He seems to have followed the rain north and east.

Carlton II is still in the Gabon rainforest just to the south of Booue. He has been in this location for two months. Several locations received from his tag on 3 January show that his body temperature is perfect but the battery charge on the tag is a little low.

Having not heard from Bowie for a few weeks it was a relief when we began to receive locations from his tag in the last few days of December. His body temperature is spot-on, however, the battery charge is still a little low, hopefully this will get better when and if his tag gets more sunlight. He is still settled in the northwest corner of Angola, around 20km (13 miles) southeast of the coastal town of Santo do Zaire Soyo.

We haven't heard from Victor for a couple of weeks but looking at the last batch of data we received the battery level was low on his tag. He is in an area of dense forest and the solar panel on the tag is probably not seeing much sunlight. Fingers crossed it gets enough to send us more data soon.