Updates from our Cuckoos

An update received from Valentine's tag late last night shows that he has flown 847 km (526 miles) North from his wintering area in Gabon to a new location in dense rainforest in central Republic of the Congo. He is now just 100 km (62 miles) south-west of another Thetford Cuckoo, Tennyson. 

Over the last ten days PJ has been blazing a trail across west Africa, starting in Cameroon and ending in Ivory Coast, a total distance of 1,733 km (1,077 miles). At 10am on Tuesday 25th February he was in Nigeria but he didn't hang around, as by 18:50 that day he had crossed over Benin and was in or over Togo. We next heard from him at 17:28 yesterday (27th Feb) when he was in western Ghana, near the border with Ivory Coast. The latest update which arrived late last night showed that PJ had made it into eastern Ivory Coast and was 58 km (36 miles) west of the Ghana - Ivory Coast border. PJ has stopped off in Ivory Coast during his northward migration in all previous years but he normally stops further west, nearer Lake Kossou. This is likely to be his last major stop before he attempts to cross the Sahara so it is important that he finds good feeding opportunities here. In previous years he has departed Ivory Coast between 6th and 13th April, so he is likely to remain here for several weeks before tackling the desert. 

A very poor location from Valentine's tag in the last few days suggests that he is in the middle of the Gulf of Guinea, around 1,400km (890 miles) offshore. We don't believe this to be the case but it could be an indication that he is on the move. It will be interesting to see where he pops-up, fingers crossed it will be somewhere north of Angola and not out to sea. Watch this space.

Since moving in to central Congo around a month ago Tennyson has been spending his time moving around the rainforest in his location. We are receiving lots of infoamtion from his tag that shows he has been frequenting an area of around 30sq KM (16sq miles). It will be interesting to see whem he makes his first move north.

A good quality location from Senan's tag during the morning of 20 February showed that he is in Congo, very close to the border with Gabon. It could be that he didn't spend very long in northern Gabon and that he has been in northern Congo for the last month or so, an area where other tagged Cuckoos have spent the midwinter period.

PJ hasn't moved far since arriving in Cameroon but information from his tag received during the last couple of days show he is alive and well. In previous years he has started the second leg of his journey around the end of February, so he could move west any day now.

A couple of poor quality locations from Carlton II's tag during the early hours of 21 February show that he is 223km (138 miles), north of his wintering area in Gabon. He is still in Gabon but closer to the border with Congo and on the southern edge of the Minkebe National Park. This is his first movement north since arriving in Gabon in early November. 

At the end of January, Tennyson made a journey of 205km (130 miles) south-west, moving back into a central area of the Republic of Congo.

Over the last few days PJ has flown 269 km (167 miles) north west from Central African Republic into Cameroon. He is now in the mountainous Adamawa region of central Cameroon. In previous years PJ as stayed in Cameroon until the end of February/early March so we expect him to stay put for a few weeks before heading west to Ivory Coast. 

An update from PJ's tag yesterday morning shows that he has flown a further 432 km (268 miles) north-west from Gabon to a new location in the Nana-Mambéré region of The Central African Republic. He is close to the border with Cameroon and just south of the area he stopped in during his migration north in 2017. From here he is likely to move west into Cameroon and then continue through west Africa towards Ivory Coast where he stopped off in 2017, 2018 and 2019.