Updates from our Cuckoos

Since our last update Joe has been exploring the tropical rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He in now deep in the forest approximately 100km east of Lake Mai-Ndombe in western DRC. 

Having spent two and a half months in Chad, Joe has flown 959km (596 miles) south from southern Chad, over Central African Republic and deep into the rainforests of the Congo Basin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He is the first of our tagged Cuckoos to reach the Congo and he is now approximately 32km (20miles) north east of Lake Tumba in eastern DRC where he may well spend the next few months. 

Joe is still in the far south of Chad and has moved further east. He is now approximately 30km from the border with Central African Republic and 40km east of the Chad city of Sarh.  

Joe has flown a few hundred kilometers further south in Chad, crossing the Chari river in the Chari-Baguirmi region. He is now 15km south of the city of Bousso. 

Having completed his crossing of the Sahara and reached the Sahel, Joe has moved further south within Chad and is now 171km (106 miles) due east of the capital N'Djamena and approximately 60km north west of the city of Ngama. 

Joe has spent the last few weeks close to Saint Maxime on the French Riviera. He set off from there at around 7:30pm on Friday evening and we received a few updates from him as he crossed the Mediterranean to the west of Corsica and Sardinia.  By 08:41 am this morning he had flown a total of 3,339km (2,074 miles) south across the Sahara to Chad at an average speed of 55kph (34 mph),  He may yet move a little further south but hopefully now that he has conquered the desert he will be able to find a suitable place to rest and recover. 

Cuckoo Joe has already flown 1,105km (687 miles) south on the first leg of his migration. Having stopped briefly east of Paris, new signals received early this morning show that he is now in the hills above the French Riviera resort of Sainte-Maxime.

Joe is one of two Cuckoos tagged at Cranwich in Norfolk in 2022, the other being JD. After tagging JD, we moved to Cranwich Heath. We placed a triangle of nets around a lone bush and placed the decoy and mp3 playing in the middle. After setting the nets, turning on the MP3 and making a cup of tea Joe was heard calling from the edge of the heath. He soon flew into the area and perched on a dead branch calling and displaying to the fake female. He then flew inside the triangle of nets, scared a Linnet and promptly flew into the net, with the Linnet. Both were promptly extracted and the Cuckoo was tagged. We have targeted birds from this area to boost our sample of East Anglian birds. Cranwich Heath is approximately 10 miles north of BTO HQ at Thetford. JD and Joe will be the sixth and seventh Cuckoos to be tracked from this area, following Attenborough, Tennyson, Thomas, Sylvester and Stanley. These birds have typically taken the easterly route south to Africa. Joe was named by tag funder Sarianne Durie who recalls that she and her late husband Joe much enjoyed the cuckoos’ arrival, calling and displaying each spring when they lived by the River Leach.  Initially there would be several birds, as time when by there were fewer and fewer – which saddened them greatly.