Updates from our Cuckoos

After a visit to the shores of the Rio del Rey estuary in western Cameroon, new signals from PJ's tag show that by yesterday evening he had flown 725 km (450 miles) south east into eastern Gabon. In previous years he has wintered in northern Angola and if this is his destination this year, he has a further 970 km (600 miles) to go before he reaches this area.  

Further updates received late yesterday afternoon and evening show that PJ has flown 653 km (406 miles) south east from his last location in Nigeria, over the border into Cameroon. He is now approximately 19 km (12 miles) west of the town of Tibati which is on the shore of Lake Mbakaou in central Cameroon. 

Carlton II crossed into Nigeria on October 19 and has since made progress east into central Nigeria. He is currently 45 km (28 miles) east of the capital Abuja. In previous years Carlton II has spent the winter in central Gabon so if this is his intended destination this year he has a further 1,150 km (714 miles) to fly.

Having spent almost two months in southern Niger, it is good to see PJ on the move again. Over the past few days he has flown 622 km (387 miles) south into Nigeria. He is now 50 km (30 miles) west of the capital Abuja and only 93 km (58 miles) west of Carlton II who is east of Abuja. We expect PJ to follow a similar route south to Valentine, passing through or over Cameroon and on to his wintering grounds in northern Angola. His wintering areas in previous years have been to the east of Valentine's, nearer the coastal city of Luanda.

Valentine has passed through Cameroon, Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo, and is now in northern Angola. He is only 130 km (80 miles) north of his wintering location in 2019. Last year he arrived here on December 5 so he is a little ahead of schedule this year. If conditions are good, he may well stay in this area until late February/early March.

Further signals received from Valentine's tag this morning place him a further 376 km (234 miles) south east of his last location, so he is now in south eastern Cameroon, approximately 205 km (127 miles) east of the capital Yaounde. Last year he wintered in northern Angola so if he is heading to the same area he has another 1,300km to fly south before reaching his final destination. 

A couple of low quality updates from Valentine's tag received during the early hours of this morning suggest that he has flown 450 km (280 miles) south east from Nigeria into Cameroon. His new location appears to be in the mountainous Adamawa region in north western Cameroon. We will have to await better quality signals before we can be certain of Valentine's location. Stay tuned!

After a short stop in Togo, Carlton II has pressed on east, covering a further 281 km (175 miles) and by Saturday morning (10 October) he was in eastern Benin. He has since repositioned, flying a further 39 km (24 miles) north to his current location in north-east Benin. He is now in the Foret de Goungoun, a protected area watered by the Sota, a tributary of the Niger, and containing forest and wooded savannah. 

It's been a quiet few weeks on the Cuckoo front but over the last 48 hours Carlton II has been on the move again. He has flown 920 km (572 miles) south east from his last location in Mali into Togo. He is now in the far north eastern corner of Togo, close to the borders with Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. He also stopped in Togo in 2018, spending a couple of days here in early September before pressing on to Cameroon and then Gabon where he overwintered. In 2019 he stopped in Benin for a couple of days at the end of September before moving into Nigeria in early November and reaching Gabon by November 11 where he again over wintered. So, if previous years are an indicator of the future, we should see Carlton II making a few more significant moves over the coming days/weeks. Stay tuned!

New updates received yesterday evening show that Carlton II has started the next leg of his journey which will take him east from his stop-over location in Senegal, towards Nigeria. By yesterday evening he had flown 748 km (465 miles) south east from his last location in Senegal, over the border into Mali and was 43 km (27 miles) north west of the capital of Bamako. It is the rainy season in southern Mali at the moment and today in Bamako it is approximately 30°C (86°F) with 60% probability of thunderstorms.