Updates from our Cuckoos

Since our last update just two days ago, Sayaan has flown more than 2,000 km (1,242 miles) from central Algeria, to southern Italy. He is the only one of our current crop of tagged Cuckoos to take an easterly route.

He is currently in an area dominated by lush woodland, in the hills just 35 km (21 miles) west of Genoa.

As anticipated, Cleeve made his way through Morocco, crossed the Mediterranean and entered Spanish airspace just east of Almeria covering around 750 km (466 miles) in a couple of days.

He is now in a remote area in the province of Cuenca, Castile-La Mancha, approximately 100 km (62 miles) north-west of Valencia.

Less than a week ago, Joe was still sitting tight in Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), close to Cuckoo Cleeve. On 10 April we received a signal to say that he’d charged his way north, covering around 4,500 km (2,800 miles) and arriving close to the ancient Spanish city of Toledo, just south of Madrid. 

After a couple of days there, he has now moved on, continuing north. Joe is currently making his way through the province of Segovia, in Castile and León.

Like Joe and Sayaan, Cleeve has been in Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) preparing for his northbound migration for the last couple of weeks, and like his Cuckoo congeners, he has now commenced his northward migration.

Covering approximately 2,900 km (1,800 miles) in recent days he has flown up through Burkina Faso, passing over Timbuktu as he crossed Mali, continued through western Algeria, and is currently on the eastern flank of the Middle Atlas mountains in Morocco. Next stop, Europe!

After a while gathering strength in the forests of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Sayaan has now set off across the Sahara. Our most recent signal was received on Sunday (11) afternoon, and showed him to be in central Algeria, close to the oasis town of Aïn Salah, the capital of In Salah Province.

Taking a slightly different route from last spring, when he took a more westerly path through Western Sahara and Morocco, it will be interesting to see where he crosses into Europe this year.

In the past few days, Cuach Cores has cracked on, speeding through north-east Morocco, crossing the Mediterranean and arriving in Europe, just east of Almeria on the Spanish coast.

From here, he has continued north and is now the most northerly of our tagged birds. He is presently close to the Iregua river, in the La Rioja province, and just 100 km (62 miles) south of Bilbao.  

Cuach Torc defied expectations by engaging in some rather unexpected autumn migratory manoeuvres in Europe (see his earlier posts for details!), finally arriving south of the Sahara in early November.

We last heard from him from his position in north-east Gabon, close to the border with Republic of the Congo on 19 December.

Regarding the Cuckoos who we have not heard from for a while, it may be that they are still alive but there is an issue with their tags and we are simply not receiving signals. However, it is normal for birds die in the course of their long migrations, on their breeding grounds, or in their wintering quarters. While we will rarely know what did really happen to these individuals, the incredible information that they provide is invaluable in helping us to understand the extraordinary lives of UK breeding Cuckoos.

George II took a more westerly route than his fellow Scottish bird Henry, but not before toing and froing between Spain and France before eventually crossing the Mediterranean in late September. 

By early December he was in southern Cameroon, but sadly we haven’t had any signal from him since then.

One of our Scottish-tagged birds, Henry made excellent progress on his autumn migration, successfully crossing the Sahara by the end of August. He then made his way slowly south through Chad and into Central African Republic.

We last received a signal from him on 28 November, and it looks probable that that’s the last we’ll hear from him.

We last heard from Cuthbert on 7 November, when he was in Cameroon, having made a successful and mostly straightforward migration south from his Suffolk breeding grounds. 

Unfortunately, it does look likely that he may have perished in the vast forests of Cameroon.