Updates from our Cuckoos

Sussex has been in his current position within Central African Republic since 3 September, and, while he was at that point the most southerly Cuckoo, during that time most of the other tagged Cuckoos have continued on southwards, leaving him in their wake. He is the only Cuckoo currently in Central African Republic and only BB and Chance are located further north than him.  

Two of our Scottish-tagged Cuckoos, BB and Chance, from 2012 are currently in the most northerly locations of those we are following this year. BB remains in Chad, while Chance is still in Nigeria.

Chance did make a move south, almost reaching Nigeria's border with Cameroon, but for some reason retreated in a north-westerly direction again. He is currently just south of Gombe. By mid-October last year, he was further south, in Cameroon, but didn't move again until the beginning of November, when he journeyed to the Téké Plateau – the area of savanna and gallery forest in central Congo.. Will we see him do the same again in the next couple of weeks?  

As for BB, last winter he spent from 17 September to 4 December in the same area as his current locaion in Chad, before then moving south to theTéké Plateau. If he does the same again this year, it may be a while before we see any further movements.

In addition to BB and Chance, this wintering area was also used by four of the Cuckoos tagged in East Anglia in the first year of the project , who spent winter of 2011/12 in the Téké Plateau, with the exception being Chris who each year has wintered in the Likouala-aux-herbes area, where he is currently. Last year, our English Cuckoos fared badly on their southward migration and Chris was the only East Anglian Cuckoo to make it to his wintering grounds. It will be interesting to see how many move south to winter in the Téké Plateau this year.

Whortle crossed from Nigeria into Cameroon by 19 October and then moved eastwards across the South region by 22 October. From here he then headed 120k (75miles) south into north-west Congo before travelling a further 80km (50 miles) east by 27 October. This new location places him just 80k (50 miles) to the north-east of Skinner. He has a choice of National Parks to visit from here, with Nki National Park to the north, Odzala-Kokoua National Parl to the south and Minkebe National Parl to the west of his current location.

Chris remains in the same area in Congo in which he arrived on 26 September. He has now been joined by fellow East Anglian Cuckoo, Derek. This is interesting as, previously, all of the birds tagged in the region have wintered further south and west in central Congo, with Chris being an exception. It looks like he may have company this winter.  

Throughout the evening of 24 October and the early hours of 25 October, we received locations indicating that Derek was heading south-east from his location in Nigeria and by around 3am he was in northern Cameroon. From here he travelled a further 900km (550 miles) in a more southerly direction and by 27 October was in Congo, in the Likouala-aux-herbes area, roughly 30km (19 miles) from Chris’s location.  Chris has spent much of the previous two winters in the area so we wonder whether fellow East Anglian bird Derek may also choose this as a good over-wintering location.

Up until the 20 October, Skinner remained in southern Cameroon but by the 24 October he had travelled 200km (125 miles) and was in north-eastern Gabon in an area of the Congo rainforest.

Despite this, Skinner is still 400km north of the most southerly Cuckoos, David and Tor. Will he move further south to winter or will he be happy to stay slightly further north, as Chris has tended to do in previous years? 

Shortly after Skinner's movement, Ken also travelled to Gabon, transmitting from a location around 220km (140 miles) to the south of his location. 

Up until 20 October, Ken remained in the same area in Central African Republic he had been in since the 25 September but signals received on the 22 October revealed he was on the move. Throughout that evening and the early morning hours of 23 October he headed in a south-westerly direction and by the morning of 25 October he has arrived in eastern Gabon, having covered almost 930km (580 miles) and joining our more southerly Cuckoos in the others in the depths of the Congo rainforest. 

It has now been over a month since we received signals from Nick's tag and unfortunately we think this may be the end of the journey for him. His last location was in Cameroon, close to Ngaoundere.

Interestingly, not many of our tagged Cuckoos have spent time in this area, instead travelling through areas in the south of Congo. Indy, one of the Cuckoos tagged in 2012, also stopped transmitting after moving to a location in Cameroon, about 400km (250 miles) further south, in the middle of September 2012.

Livingstone has not travelled any further and remains in the same location. He is just slightly further north, at a higher latitude, than David, Patch and Tor. 

We hadn't received transmissions from Tor's tag since 10 October when he moved to south Gabon and we were starting to get worried. Early this morning, however, we received some poor quality signals which reveal that he may have moved west and may now be in the Crystal Mountain area of south-western Congo. We will have to wait for better signals to confirm whether this is a real movement but we are relieved to have some received some news.