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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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Wallace close to Lake Garda

06 Sep 2012

Unconfirmed signals suggest that Wallace has moved 30km (18 miles) northeast, placing him 7 miles west of the shores of Lake Garda. 

Chris moving towards CAR

06 Sep 2012

Chris’ tag transmitted this morning from a location 52km (32 miles) south of his previous position. He remains in Chad but is only around 195km (120 miles) north-west of the border with the Central African Republic, where he moved to last winter after leaving Chad. 

No news may be bad news

06 Sep 2012

No further signals have been received for John or Reacher since their last locations in France and Spain respectively. Taking a look back at the temperature data,  the last few messages received for each tag show a lot of variety associated with time of day - i.e. cooler in the early morning and reaching over 30°C in the afternoon. Temperatures prior to that had always been higher than 30°C, even when the Cuckoos were in Britain. This suggests that the bird’s body temperature wasn't influencing the tag's temperature much during these signals and does, unfortunately, support the idea that they may have perished.

The wildfires that have spread through Spain have been caused by chronic drought. While the wildfires themselves are unlikely to have effected these Cuckoos directly, the drought will have made Iberia far less suitable for fattening Cuckoos. 
 
John behaved very oddly once he got to north-eastern Spain and even made an oblique re-crossing of the Pyrenees, and Reacher disappeared in exactly the area where the recent fires have been reported. Lyster took a similar route, passing through Catalonia (one of the areas where fires have been reported) during late July and stopping off in what appeared to be an area of irrigated farmland rather than the montane forests he used last year. Perhaps he failed to deposit enough fuel for the desert crossing at this sub-optimal stopover location? . 
 

Wallace moves into Italy

03 Sep 2012

Wallace was still in Switzerland on 1 September but by early this morning (3 September) he had moved to a location in northern Italy, about 17km (11 miles) west of the south end of Lake Garda and about 10km (6 miles) SE of Brescia. This location is at the northern edge of the Po floodplain, just south of the foothills of the Alps. He is there much later than the other Cuckoos who have used the floodplain to prepare for their desert crossing – the other Cuckoos that have used the Po watershed later in the season have tended to use the foothills rather than the floodplain, so we hope he will be able to find the remaining food he needs to fuel his migration. 

Chance returns to Lake Chad

03 Sep 2012

Recent transmissions showed Chance leaving the vicinity of Lake Chad but a series of locations received early on 30 August showed that Chance was moving NW at that time. He stopped 28km (17 miles) SW of Massakory, having moved 91km (56 miles) from his previous position. By Saturday 1 September he had moved another 66km (41 miles) NW to an area at the north-eastern corner of the seasonally flooded extent of Lake Chad, close to his previous position near the lake.

Indy moves into Nigeria

03 Sep 2012

Indy has continued to move SE through the Sahel into areas with higher annual rainfall. On the evening of 31 August, he was still at hid location NE of Zinder in Niger but by early this morning (3 August) he had moved 128km (78 miles) SE. He is now 20km (12 miles) inside Nigeria and is 43km (27 miles) WNW of Nguru. Immediately to his south are Nguru Hadejia wetlands, a Ramsar Site which is very important for migratory waterbirds. 

Roy completes desert crossing

31 Aug 2012

Locations received once Roy’s tag resumed transmissions today (31 August) show that he has completed his desert crossing. He is in eastern Chad, a few kms from the border with Sudan and about 48km (30 miles) NE of BB. At about 14° N, he is the most northerly of the Cuckoos south of the Saharan. He is in the northern Sahel, where annual rainfall is low, but the bulk falls in July & August at this latitude so the area should be green with plenty of insect food available at the moment. 

Lloyd back tracks to Italy!

30 Aug 2012

Over the past ten days, Lloyd left the Alpine foothills of western Italy for Provence and then left for an area close to the borders of France and Spain, west of Perpignan - apparently confirming that he was taking the western route in to Africa. Locations received on the afternoon of 26 August, however, showed he had returned east to Provence whilst further locations showed that by the afternoon of 28 August he was back in Italy, a few km from the position he held ten days ago! It seems likely that this reverse movement is related to food availability – perhaps Lloyd had difficulty finding suitable foraging areas towards the south-west? It is notable that of the three tracked Cuckoos that have headed to Africa in that direction this autumn, we have not heard from John or Reacher for some time and Lyster is missing in southern Mauritania, possibly having failed to deposit enough fuel for his desert crossing at his stop-over in Catalonia. 

Roy making good progress across the Sahara

30 Aug 2012

A series of locations received early yesterday (29 August) showed that Roy had indeed initiated his migration two days previously and that he was moving south over eastern Libya – the location on the map shows where he had reached by 1030hrs. This suggests that he had moved SSE through Albania and Greece before crossing over the Mediterranean Sea and into Libya. His tag should resume transmissions tomorrow afternoon, at which time we hope he will have joined the other four Cuckoos that are currently in southern Chad.

Chance southeast of Lake Chad

28 Aug 2012

We believe that the transmission depicted to the east is incorrect and that Chance remained in the area east of Lake Chad. Further transmissions on 22, 23, 25 and 27 August show him 155km (95 miles) southeast of the Lake, and his previous position.

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