Updates from our Cuckoos

Since our last update George has departed Italy, crossed the Mediterranean and Libya, and reached Chad.

As of 20:48 last night he was still over the Sahara but was only a few hundred km from reaching the other side.

Hopefully by the time we receive the next update he will have successfully completed his crossing. 

We are pleased to report that Sayaan has made it across the Sahara. New updates from his tag this morning show that he has flown 1,225 km (761 miles) from the Tibesti mountains in southern Libya to his new location in the south-eastern corner of Chad.

He is now in the wetter and greener environs of the Sahel where he will hopefully be able to find plenty of food to help him recover from his long journey.

Sayaan has left Italy and by Sunday afternoon he had crossed the Mediterranean and reached northern Libya.

By the time of his last transmission just after 19:30 last night (Monday 24 July) he had flown 843 km (524 miles) south through the Libyan Sahara and reached the northern edge of the remote and very inaccessible Tibesti mountain range.

He is close to Bette Peak, the highest mountain in Libya at 2,266 metres (7,434 ft).  

Hopefully when we next hear from him, he will have completed his desert crossing and will be refuelling in the Sahel. 

Over the last few days Joe has flown 600 km (373 miles) east from Nigeria, over northern Cameroon and into southern Chad.

He is now 25 km (15.5 miles) south east of the city of Bousso in the Chari-Baguirmi region of Chad.

Since our last update Bluey has flown approximately 2,650 km (1,646 miles) on a journey that has taken him across the Sahara Desert, from Morocco, through Western Sahara and Mauritania to Mali.

He has spent the last couple of days in western Mali, close to the border with Senegal. He is approximately 16 km (10 miles) east of the town of Kéniéba, close to the Tabakoto gold mine.

It is the rainy season here and so hopefully Bluey will be finding plenty of invertebrate food to help him recover from his desert crossing. 

Since our last update Michael has flown 271 km (169 miles) south west from his last location in southern France to a new location in Spain.

He is now on the edge of the Tinença de Benifassà Natural Park, a sparsely populated mountainous area in the autonomous community of Valencia. 

Trent has flown 420 km (261 miles) south through Morocco and is now 41 km (25 miles) south–east of Marrakesh. 

He is on the lower slopes of Jebel Yagour, a mountain and high plateau in the High Atlases with a peak at 2,700 m (8,900 ft).  

Having had a brief rest after completing his desert crossing, new updates received from Joe's tag this morning show that he has flown 440 km (273 miles) south–east, from Niger and into Nigeria.

He is now a few miles east of Jalam in the Bauchi region in north–east Nigeria. 

Michael has flown 287 km (178 miles) south west into the south eastern corner of France. He is just south of the 2,784 m (9,134 ft) mountain, Canigó, in the Pyrenees.

Updates received from Bluey's tag over the weekend show that he has flown 545 km (338 miles) south west from southern Spain, taking him across the Mediterranean and into Morocco.

By Saturday evening (15 July) he was close to the town of Midelt, on the high plains between the Middle Atlas and High Atlas Mountains. The latest signals show him 38 km (24 miles) east of Midelt but all of the recent signals have been of low quality so we'll need to await further transmissions to be more confident of his exact location.