Updates from our Cuckoos

Since arriving in southern Niger PJ has settled on the edge of a small river valley to the east of the town of Bouza. The habitat in the valley is semi-arid with sparse trees but the river banks are fairly well vegetated, so PJ may be able to use this area as his stopover site before heading south and east into Congo.

Last year Peckham left northern Italy on 30 July and by 9 September was in Chad on the southern edge of the desert, so it is a little worrying that he is still so far north. A look at his tag data suggests that everything is ok, although the battery charge is a little low. Surprisingly, there is a very poor quality location for 6 September that suggests he is in Sicily. We will need better quality locations to confirm this but if it is the case Peckham may well have started his desert crossing - several of our Cuckoos make a direct flight across the desert from northern Italy. Watch this space.

Markoo successfully crossed the desert and is currently in northwest Nigeria. He is on the edge of a small river valley twenty miles northwest of Ranko.

Larry is still settled in the forest in southern Chad, and could be for at least another month or so. It is currently warm, 27 degrees, and wet with a humidity of 75%, perfect for the invertebrates that Larry will be seeking out.

We have lost contact with Disco Tony and at this stage it looks like his tag might have failed. Only time will tell if it bursts into life again. We have 'lost' Cuckoos for up to six weeks, only for their tags to start transmitting again, hopefully this will be the case with Disco Tony's tag.

Since arriving in southern Chad David has made some small adjustments, presumably seaching for a location with a good supply of food. In 2015 he left this area and headed south on 9 October.

Having spent around three weeks in Burkina Faso, 161324 has made a very unusual movement. Instead of heading east and south, he has moved north and east, with the emphasis on north. He is currently on the southern edge of the Sahara in a river valley in southeast Mali. On 31 August he was 300km (184 miles) east of his current location, so it seems that he has doubled back, probably because he struggled to find food at the new site. It will be interesting to see how long he stays here, or to see if he eventually heads back to the stopover site in Burkina Faso he left on 29 August.  We have seen other Cuckoos head back to the last site they knew had good feeding.

Having spent a month in Mali, Bill has begun his journey east and is currently in the Dinderesso Forest in western Burkina Faso, just west of the second largest city in the country, Bobo-Dioulasso, with a population of just over half a million people. The weather at the moment is similar to that in parts of the UK, 29 degrees and high humidity.

Just before dawn on 27 August we received several locations that showed 121321 had left Burkina Faso. His stopover in Burkina Faso lasted for just over a month. He is currently in northern Benin close to the Pandjari National Park, 434km (270 miles) south and east of his Burkina Faso stopover site.

It has been over twenty days since we last heard from 161319 and we aren't really sure why. When we last heard from him both he and his tag seemed to be OK. So, it might be that we have lost him or that his tag has failed, possibly as a result of being predated. He might even still pop up south of the Sahara. At this stage we just don't know.