Updates from our Cuckoos

The fact that all five of our Cuckoos made it all the way to Africa without any losses was a pleasant surprise to us but we now haven’t picked up any messages from Kasper's tag since 6 January.

There are a few possible reasons why this might be, including tag failure, poor tag charging due to the weather or Kasper staying under the forest canopy, or he could have been taken by a predator.
At the moment, we can only sit and wait to see if there is a further transmission. There is still a chance that his tag might spring back to life and beam us a signal, albeit slimmer as time passes.
 

A transmission from Chris’s tag on 31 January at 08.10 placed him in the same location in the swampy area within Congo he has been in for some weeks.

A transmission received from Martin’s tag on the 30 Jan showed he had moved 90 miles (145km) in a north-north-east direction from Oko, where he had been located, and is now close to the Likouala River. He is around 86 miles from Lyster.

Is this the start of migration or not? Watch this space! 

Between a transmission received on the 30 Jan and another on the 1 Feb Lyster had moved 75km (46 miles) north-east and then a further 46km (29m) north-west. At 17.57 on the 1 Feb at he was near Ndzakou having moved a total of around 121km (75miles). He is now 86km (53 miles) from Martin and 47km (30 miles) from Clement.
 

Is this the start of migration or not? Watch this space! 

The cloud cleared and the strong sunshine meant that the Cuckoo’s tags charged but, interestingly, they did not charge to very high levels, suggesting they are spending time under the forest canopy or in other dense vegetation. We haven’t received a transmission from Kasper since the 6th January and we are starting to get a little concerned as this is the longest gap since transmissions for any of the Cuckoos.

Another good strong signal was received for Lyster on the 22 January at 20.38 which showed no change in his movements.

We received a good location for Chris on 24th January with a nice strong signal due to the improved weather. He transmitted again today at 23.42 but is still in the same location in Congo.

We received a good location for Martin on the 16th but this is the only message we have received from his tag in the past ten days. Despite the recent sunshine, the tags aren't charging to very high levels suggesting they are spending time under the forest canopy or in other dense vegetation.

The cloud cleared and we received a good location for Clement on 22 January which showed no change from his previous location in Congo.

We received a strong transmission from Chris at 02.47 this morning placing him still just inside Congo, close to the border with DRC.