Updates from our Cuckoos

During the last couple of days Bowie has moved south and east and is now in Chad and just to the northwest of Manda National Park. Since leaving the New Forest on 12 June he has flown 4,893km (3,040 miles). He has averaged 139km (86 miles) per day during his travels so far.

Sylvester has crossed the Pyrenees and is in central Spain. He is to the west of the medieval town of Avila. He has Selborne, a New Forest Cuckoo about 70km (45 miles) to his west and Raymond, a Knepp Estate Cuckoo 200km (128 miles) to his east. It will be interesting to see which of these is the first to head south from here.

Having spent the last 6 days on the southern edge of the Pyrenees, PJ has moved. He is now 195km (121 miles) southwest of his previous location, and is to the west of Zaragoza. Might this be the start of his big push south?

The winds do seem to have helped Cameron across the desert. During the afternoon of 12 July his tag showed that he was in the very southeast corner of Niger, close to the border with Burkina Faso. He is 19km (11 miles) north of the Niger River in an area of acacia forest and on the southern edge of the desert.

It seems Victor might have had an interesting flight over the desert. He started his crossing in a southeasterly direction but about a third of the way into the desert he began heading west and continued on this track all the way to Burkina Faso and the southern edge of the desert. Burkina Faso has been his staging area for the last two years, in 2017 he arrived here on 19 Jul and on 1 August in 2016.

It is interesting to look at the winds during his crossing. For the first part, when he was heading east, he was flying into a light headwind coming from the southeast, roughly at the point he started heading west he met a light headwind coming from the southwest. We know that birds prefer to fly into light headwinds, doing so gives them a greater degree of control over their flight than a tailwind would, but it is great to see this in action. Of course if the headwind is too strong birds will sit it out until conditions improve.

Thomas is on the brink of his desert crossing on the northern edge of the desert in the Anti Atlas Mountains of Morocco. If he crosses in a straight line from here he will cross at the desert's narrowest point, around 1,900km (1,200 miles). Next stop Mali?

The poor locations received during the last few days were right, Bowie was crossing the desert. Yesterday evening his tag showed that he had successfully crossed the Sahara and was in northern Cameroon close to the Waza National Park. The park is largely open savannah forest with the yaere floodplain to the north. It will be interesting to see how long Bowie remains here, recuperating after the 2,800km (1,700 miles) flight over the desert.

Knepp is very close to the Portuguese border. Another 5km (3 miles) and he would have crossed the border into Portugal and added a new country to those that our tagged Cuckoos have visited so far. He is currently close to the Spanish town of Trabazos.

Cameron has begun his desert crossing. A series of locations received from his tag during the evening of 10 July show that he is about a third of the way into the desert and close to the Libyan border. The winds in this part of the desert are currently light and from the northeast, which should help him on his way. 

Thomas didn't stay long in northern Spain, two days in fact, before heading off south. During the evening of 9 July his tag told us he was in southeast Spain just to the east of Granada. It will be interesting to see how long he stays here before launching his Sahara desert crossing.