Updates from our Cuckoos

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.

We are pleased to report that since our last update Joe has completed his crossing of the Sahara, the first of our tagged birds to do so this year.

His journey south across the desert took him just west of the Aïr Mountains of northern Niger. By yesterday afternoon (Sunday 16 July) he had reached southern Niger and was close to the village of Tchadoua. Tchadoua is approximately 38 km (23 miles) east of Niger's second largest city, Maradi. 

He is in the Sahel now where it is the rainy season and he will hopefully find plenty of food to replenish his depleted fat stores.  

Since our last update Trent has flown 517 km (322 miles) south to the south of France. He is now close to Lake Gaube in the Pyrenees, near the town of Cauterets on the France/Spain border.