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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Victor begins his journey home
Cuckoos on the move north
Two more Cuckoos have begun their journeys northwards from their wintering locations. From Angola, Larry has flown 675km (420 miles) north east to Central Congo.He is now to the north-east of Okoyo. This is similar to what he has done in the previous two years, before moving into Cameroon and then on to west Africa. In the first year he then made his desert crossing from Nigeria, but in the second year that we tracked him he went much further west - crossing the desert from Guinea! What will he do this year?
Selborne has also headed north and is now in northern Gabon, close to the coast, and the Reserva Natural del Estuario del Muniborder, a Wetland of International Importance. He is just south of the border with Equatorial Guinea, and has travelled 350km (218 miles) from his previous location.
PJ moves onto Cameroon
Small movement from Selborne
PJ moving north
Peckham in Gabon
Peckham moves to Central African Republic
Victor heads south
PJ in Angola
Cuckoo class of 2017
In 2017, we have been trialling the very latest satellite tracking technology - this year’s cohort were tagged with 2g tags from Microwave Telemetry.
We have, unfortunately, ‘lost’ contact with most of them already. It would seem that the smaller size of the new tag allows the solar panel, used to recharge the tiny battery, to become shaded by feathers, resulting in much less efficient charging of the battery, and consequently lower contact with the tag. Although some may have died, the lack of transmissions from the tags makes it impossible to assess this and in all cases, there were no indications that the birds were in trouble when we last heard from their tags.
This is exacerbated during the winter months by the birds spending more time under the canopy in the Congo rainforest. We don’t know how the batteries will fare when the birds begin their northward migration back to the UK. On leaving the rainforest the tags should receive more sunlight which might be enough to overcome feather shading, and if this happens some of the ‘lost birds’ could pop-up again in February or March, but it is possible that the prolonged shading will have caused irreversible damage to the much smaller batteries in the 2g model. We all have our fingers crossed.
As we move forward we are continuously looking for effective ways to continue gathering this important data for Cuckoos, and other species, to benefit our knowledge and ultimately wildlife conservation. We hope that next year we will be able to track a cohort of cuckoos without these issues arising.
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