Updates from our Cuckoos

By 7pm last night Llangollen Cuckoo JAC had covered the remaining 560Km over the Sahara in southern Mali and had arrived in Burkina Faso. At 9pm last night he was close to the town of Bogande in the Gnagna Province of eastern Burkina Faso. He was 155Km (95 miles) north east of the capital Ouagagougou. JAC joins AJ, Ellis and Calypso as the first four tagged Cuckoos to successfully complete their desert crossing this year. 2,200 km currently separates AJ in Mali in the west from Ellis in Nigeria.

JAC has made a big movement over the last few days and by 18:45 on Friday night he was in or around the Hoggar mountains in the central Sahara, southern Algeria. The highest peak in this mountain range, Mount Tahat, is 2,908 m (9,541 ft) high. Isn't it extraordinary to think of the sorts of landscapes our Cuckoos pass through on their incredible journeys? By 09:23 Saturday morning, he had made it as far as eastern Mali. In his journey from Spain he has so far covered 2,608 km (1,620 miles) and he looks as if he will finish his desert crossing in south west Niger or possibly Burkina Faso. The next update will hopefully show that he has successfully completed his desert crossing. 

Over the last 24 hours Calpyso has flown 10 km south west within the Kwiabana Game Reserve in the south of Zamfara state, Nigeria. An ecological survey of this area published in 1981 found big numbers of large mammals, particularly Elephants, Roan Antelopes, Hartebeest and Buffalo, as well as smaller mammals like Warthog, Baboon, Ardvark, Baboons, Green Monkeys and Porcupines. The recommendation of that study was to protect the area from illegal hunting and grazing to create an area with great potential for game viewing and tourism. It would be interesting to know how the reserve has fared since 1981. 

A series of updates from JAC's tag arrived last night showing that by 19:33 he had flown 672Km (418 miles) south from his last location near Maintenon, France, over the border into Spain. He was on the slopes of the Sierra de Manga mountain range, close to the village of Ainet de Besan. He was approximately 8Km north east of the town of Llavorsi. Subsequent, low quality signals showed him pressing on further and by 23:25 last night he was 25Km north west of Barcelona. Will he carry on to Africa from here, or stop for a rest? Stay tuned to find out. 

A new update received early this morning shows that PJ has flown 215Km (134 miles) north east into the Spanish Pyrenees. He is now approximately 10Km north east of the town of Isaba in the Navarre region of northern Spain. He is currently in the foothills of Mesa de los Tres Reyes (the table of the three kings) which is the highest point in Spanish Navarre at 2,428m (7,966ft). PJ made a very similar north-easterly movement between 25-30 July last year. 

Clive didn't stay in Brittany for long, new updates received just after 7am this morning showed that he has flown 700Km (435 miles) south to northern Spain. He is now in a woodland close to the town of Cevico Navero in Palencia. He is 81 km south west of Cuckoo PJ and 144Km north of Cuckoo Harry. 

New updates from Calypso arrived between 04:34 and 07:22 this morning showing that he has flown a further 586 km (364 miles) to complete his crossing of the Sahara. In total he has covered 2,784km (1,730 miles) since leaving from northern Tunisia and arriving at his current location in northern Nigeria. He is now in an area of Guinea Savanna close to the Kwiambana Game Reserve in the Zamfara region of north western Nigeria. He is 381Km (237 miles) west of Cuckoo Ellis who is also in northern Nigeria. 

It's now more than three weeks since we received a signal from Grove's tag.  Having examined the data from the tag we have concluded that something catastrophic has happened to Grove or his tag between the last signal and the next one that was due. It could be that Grove was predated or that the antennae was snapped off the tag. We will keep our fingers crossed it was tag failure and who knows, he may yet be encountered again in the future. In the meantime he still makes a contribution to our growing knowledge and understanding of the factors affecting our Cuckoo population. 

After getting off to a promising start by flying 424km (264 miles) south from Scotland to Nottinghamshire we are sad to lose Columbus. On 26 June there was a sudden, permanent drop in temperature recorded by his tag and the battery charge then declined steadily until the last transmission on 4 July. Unfortunately this suggests that Columbus has perished. The information gathered from Columbus will still make a valuable contribution to our growing knowledge and understanding of the risks faced by Cuckoos on migration. 

A couple of new updates from AJ's tag arrived just after 11am this morning (Monday 19 July) showing that he has flown 280Km (174 miles) further south. He is now in south west Mali, approximately 9km (5.5 miles) south east of the village of Didenko in the Kayes region.