Updates from our Cuckoos

Victor seems settled in the rainforest in central eastern Gabon. He has moved 19km (12 miles) south within the forest and is now quite close to Robinson, one of our other tagged Cuckoos. It might be that this is his winter site, although in the 2016 he wintered in Angola and in 2017, Gabon. He is currently midway between these two areas.

Thomas is still settled in the rainforest in southwest Congo. He has moved around a little and is currently 40km (25 miles) south of his arrival point in the forest.

It is with a heavy heart that we have to report that we think Sylvester has died. Looking more closely at the data it seems that the location we received from his tag in the Central African Republic was erroneous - this happens occasionally. In actuallity, we last heard from Sylvester on 28 August in Nigeria, close to the River Niger. We have no clues as to what might have happened to him.

Since arriving in Congo Sherwood hasn't moved very far, although during the last few days he moved north and east by around 30km (20 miles). He is just on the northern edge of the Crystal Mountains and to the east of Kibangou.

Selborne has been in his current location for around a month and doesn't seem to be moving far. He is moving around an area no more than a kilometer square. 

Locations received from Robinson's tag during the last few days show that he is still settled in the area of dense rainforest that he has been in for over a month. This may well prove to be his winter location. Robinson is one of four tagged Cuckoos currently in Gabon and, he is only 9km (6 miles) from Victor. Both are forest Cuckoos here in the UK, Victor was tagged in Thetford Forest and Robinson in Sherwood Forest.

During the last few days we have received a series of locations from Raymond's tag that show he has crossed the border from Gabon and is in Congo, on the Teke Plateau. During the project we have seen a few of our Cuckoos spend the mid-winter on the plateau, however, this year Raymond is currently the only one. The weather on the plateau is a pleasant 28 degrees with light showers. It will be interesting to see if Raymond remains here or joins our other Cuckoos in Angola.

During the last week PJ has moved a little further south in Angola. He is currently on the northern edge of the Coutada do Ambriz Reserve, and further south than any of our other tagged cuckoos. As the crow flies he is almost 7,000km (just over 4,000 miles) from his East Anglian breeding site. This is the third time since he was fitted with his tag that he has wintered in Angola. 

For the fourth time since his tag was fitted, Larry has made it to his winter location in Angola. He is currently just under 200km (just over 100 miles) northeast of Luanda and in an area of forest he has used several times before. He is one of five of our tagged Cuckoos that are currently in Angola. During his time wearing a tag he has travelled in excess of 56,000km (35,000 miles).