We were surprised when Senan hadn't moved on in the latter part of 2019 however, the area he was in within Benin had received extra rainfall in the previous three months, and was likely to be greener than normal for the time of year. Other Cuckoos were also later moving from West Africa into the forest zone this autumn, presumably for this possible reason. A new poor quality location received in late December indicates Senan could now be in northern Gabon, in or close to the Minkébé National Park. This would be a logical position for him. The battery on the tag is low, and has been for some time, but hopefully we will receive further signals which will confirm this, so that it becomes visible on the maps shortly.
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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Senan in Gabon?
07 Jan 2020
PJ heading North
06 Jan 2020
Between 22nd and 25th December, PJ flew 745 km (463 miles) north from his last location in northern Angola to his new location in eastern Gabon. This movement is similar in timing and direction to PJ's movements in 2017 when he moved to Gabon on 8th January and in 2018 when he moved to Gabon on 27th December. In previous years he has stayed in this area of Gabon until the end of January before moving further north, into Cameroon.
Tennyson in the DRC
16 Dec 2019
Tennyson has recently flown 200 km (129 miles) south-east to his current location, hopping over the border and into the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is close to the Ubangi river and the Ngiri nature reserve, an area of swamp forest.
Valentine in Angola
16 Dec 2019
Valentine only stayed in Cameroon for a few days before pressing on to his current location in northern Angola. Valentine is now 228 Km (142 miles) north-east of the capital Luanda and just 167 km (104 miles) separates him from Suffolk Cuckoo PJ.
PJ in Angola again
16 Dec 2019
Since our last update PJ has flown further south as expected and is now in northern Angola, where he wintered in 2016, 2017 & 2018. He is just north-east of the capital Luanda and we expect him to remain here for a month or so, before beginning the first stage of his migration north again.
Valentine arrives in Cameroon
02 Dec 2019
Valentine left Burkina Faso on 16th November, flying 495 km (307 miles) south-east over the border into Ghana where he stayed for a week. On 23rd November he departed Ghana and flew 836 km (520 miles) east to Nigeria where he stopped for around a week near Benin City in southern Nigeria. The latest update shows that by 5:45 pm on Saturday evening (November 30) Valentine had flown a further 416 km (258 miles) south east to his current location in western Cameroon.
Carlton II arrives at his wintering grounds
11 Nov 2019
Carlton II didn't stay long in Equatorial Guinea before covering the last 280 km (174 miles) and reaching his new location in central Gabon. He is now 17 km (10 miles) south of the small town of Booue and just south of the Equator. He is in exactly the same area as he spent the 2018/19 winter, arriving on November 7 and departing on February 3.
Carlton II in equatorial Africa
07 Nov 2019
True to last year's timings, Carlton II has moved onwards dring the first week of November. This year he has flown slightly further south, bypassing Cameroon, and settling on nearby Equatorial Guinea to feed up before he, presumably, presses on into Gabon andthe dense forest of the Congo Basin as last year. His most recent trip covered over 1035km (645 miles) and has taken him close to the town of Anisoc.
Senan moves on
07 Nov 2019
Senan had been in Burkina Faso since 21 August but signals on the 5 November show he was ready for change of scenery. He left the location he has spent the last 13 weeks in and travelled 350km (220 miles) south-east to Benin. He is currently on the southern edge of the Wari Maro Forest Reserve.
PJ in the Congo
04 Nov 2019
After a week in Cameroon, PJ has flown 687 km (427 miles) south to his current location in western Republic of the Congo. He is on the southern edge of the 13,500 Km2 Odzala National Park, one of Africa's oldest national parks, in the heart of the Congo Basin. We don't expect PJ to stay here for more than a week or two before progressing on to his wintering grounds in northern Angola.
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