The last transmission from Gilbert's tag was on 16 July and everything appeared fine with respect to tag charge and temperature. His last known location was in Spain, and now that all our other Cuckoos have completed their desert crossing and are safely in Africa, we presume that Gilbert has been unable to continue his journey and has probably perished there.
Updates from our Cuckoos
Read the latest updates from our Cuckoos on their epic migration between the UK and tropical Africa, or track their movements in real-time on our Cuckoo migration map.
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End of the road for Gilbert
19 Sep 2014
Meavy fate unknown
19 Sep 2014
There have been no further signals since 19 July from Meavy. Given this it is possible that we may have lost him and will not receive further news of his journey.
BB in Chad
17 Sep 2014
Signals received on 13 September show BB had continued across the desert and was in Chad, roughly 380 miles north-east of Chris, who was settled around Lake Chad after completing his desert crossing. A further signal on 15 September shows that BB had travelled 105km (65 miles) south-east. This new position means he still has roughly the same distance to travel again before he is on the same latitude as Whortle, the most northerly of the other Cuckoos
The end of the road for Walpole
12 Sep 2014
The last transmission received from Walpole's tag was on the 18 August and we have now come to the conclusion that it's likely that he has died in Sologne Forest, Central France. He is one of 4 birds, since the project began, that has been lost in France; John in 2012, Nelson in 2013 and Maji, also during August this year.
A period of recovery
12 Sep 2014
With most cuckoos now in the Sahel region, we're entering a fairly quiet period in the annual cycle of the tagged cuckoos with less movement than during the migration season.
Birds who completed their desert crossing will spend time in the Sahel recovering their body condition, and some may stay quite a long time. In previous years, cuckoos have stayed in this area for as much as several months, while others spend a shorter amount of time before moving south into the humid zone forests.
The eastern Sahel in Chad and south Sudan has received plenty of rain recently, and thus conditions are likely good for cuckoos. Northern Cameroon was slightly drier than average in August, and so cuckoos such as Derek, Dudley, Stanley, and Emsworthy may be moving on if foraging conditions aren't suitable.
Future transmissions from Maji uncertain
09 Sep 2014
We have not heard from Maji since 10 August. When we last did, the temperature sensor readings on the tag indicated that he was still alive but the charge on his tag was very low.
Maji at first appeared that he would be using the southeastern migration route after crossing Germany, headed to the Austrian Alps. Many birds on the southeastern route have stopped in Italy's Po Valley, which Maji looked like he was going to do. . .until he overshot and ended up over the sea north of Corsica. The northern Appenine mountains in Italy would normally act as a catching feature to prevent this sort of overshoot, but Maji may have found the gap between the Appenines and the southern extent of the Alps, got confused when he ended up over the sea, and simply continued on until he reached the next bit of land - in this case, the Balearic Islands. At this point, he seemed to figure out where he was, as he oriented towards the nearest bit of land and headed for the Spanish coast south of Barcelona. Here, his movements start to resemble John's in 2012. Maji headed north across the Pyrennes towards the Atlantic Coast of France in the Landes de Gascogne National Park. John also ended up in this same area. It is at this point that Maji’s tag stopped transmitting, and his fate remains unknown. It’s possible that his tag might start transmitting again, but this is looking fairly unlikely.
BB on his way
09 Sep 2014
BB has finally started his southward migration! The trajectory of his migration from northern Italy means that he would have likely passed over the toe of Italy at dawn today, and will perhaps make a short stopover there before continuing on over the Mediterranean and Sahara tonight or tomorrow.
The multiple years of data from veteran cuckoos such as BB and Chris are showing just how much variation there can be for an individual bird between years. There can be quite a lot of variation in the consistency of migration timing, and spring schedules are often more tightly fixed than schedules in autumn. The summer in northern Italy has been wetter and cooler than normal, so these conditions together with their age may have made it more difficult for both BB and Chris to fatten up for their migration as quickly as previous years.
Chris returns to Lake Chad
09 Sep 2014
Chris has finally crossed the Sahara and is now in the Lake Chad area. By the early morning of 4 September he was heading south over the Sahara in central Libya, suggesting he had left Sicily on the evening of 2 September. By late morning on the 6, he had completed his desert crossing and was at his current location at the northern end of Lake Chad. From his northern Italy stopover to Lake Chad, Chris moved over 3,500 km over 5 days in his fourth successful autumn migration.
His current position in the Sahel is about 350 km further west than he was in 2011 and 2013 following his desert crossing, but is quite similar to his location following his 2012 crossing. These differences might potentially be attributed to wind drift. It remains to be seen whether Chris rejoins his previous routes south upon leaving Lake Chad, as he did in 2012. Chris will likely stay at his current position to recover condition following his migratory journey. In 2012, he was in the Lake Chad area for about a month before moving further south and east in Chad.
134957 remains in Mali
03 Sep 2014
134957 arrived in Mali in the middle of August and has remained there since. He is the most northerly of all the Cuckoos within Africa and we would expect him to move further south and east soon, towards the Congo rainforest.
BB sitting pretty
03 Sep 2014
Chris is finally on his way over to Africa but BB is still in Italy. Although 'late' like Chris, signals indicate he is still alive and so we hope that eventually they will both successfully cross the Sahara. It's really interesting that these older birds, Chris, who was tagged in 2011, and BB, who was tagged in 2012, have changed their schedules this year to leave so much later. Is age proving a factor in being able to put on enough fat to to make the tough journey?
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