Updates from our Cuckoos

Derek has continued 350km (218 miles) on from his last location and is now in the north-west of Ivory Coast, very close to it's border with Guinea. As for two of his fellow Norfolk Cuckoos, Ken, has also made it to Ivory Coast, while Chris has recently arrived in Ghana.

By the early hours of 14 March, Chris had left Central African Republic and signals showed he was in the south of Nigeria. The next signals received on 16 March revealed he had contined on and was in Ghana. He had travelled a total of 1900km (1180 miles) from his location within Central African Republic to Ghana in no more than five days at most! In previous years he has arrived in Ghana between the 13-17 March, so once again he is on schedule!  

From his last position to the west of Lake Volta, Derek continued a further 445km (275 miles) in a north-westerly direction, across the border and in to Ivory Coast. He is now just north of  Bouaké (or Bwake), the second largest city in Ivory Coast. Waller is a further 400km (250 miles) to the south-west.

Waller has continued a further 515km (320 miles) west and is now in the west of Ivory Coast, close to the borders with Guinea and Liberia. 

Ken has moved a further 380km (235 miles) north-west within Nigeria but is some way behind Derek, the third Cuckoo to move in to West Africa, who is now in Ghana.  

By the 28 February, Derek had moved from Congo to central Cameroon.  This morning, 7 March, we received signals showing he had covered a further 1490km (925 miles), which puts him to the west of Lake Volta in Ghana. He is the third of our tagged Cuckoos in West Africa but is further to the west than Ken who has remained in Nigeria.

The charge on both Chance and Tor’s tags was very low on the last transmission before they went 'missing’. We hope that like Tor’s, Chance’s tag will resume transmissions once it has been exposed to sunlight after he moves to a new location. If it does not, it is most likely that the battery completely discharged during the period that it was not charging sufficiently to transmit and subsequently perished. In previous years, the tracked cuckoos have mostly died during the main spring and autumn migrations between Europe and Africa, rather than during the mid-winter period, so battery failure would seem more likely than Chance dying during the period that his tag was uncharged.

We’re delighted to write this blog today as, after a silence of almost 3 months, Tor’s tag has sent new transmissions. The signals, received on 3 March, are the first since the beginning of December and reveal that he is now in the Central African Republic. Perhaps there is still hope that Chance may reappear too?

Over the course of the 1 March, Waller headed further west from his position just north of Lake Volta, travelling 465km (290 miles) and flying across the middle of Ghana. He arrived in Ivory Coast in the late afternoon and was 90km (55 miles) inside its border with Ghana.  At the moment he is 1300km (810 miles) further west than any of the other Cuckoos. Ken moved over the weekend and is officially in West Africa now. 

Ken has moved 200km (120 miles) from his last position in Cameroon and into Nigeria over the weekend. He is now officially in West Africa and is the second Cuckoo to move this far west this year.