During the last couple of days PJ has crossed the desert and is on his way back to the UK. A couple of poor quality locations received from his tag late in the evening on 16 April showed that he was crossing the Mediterranean east of the Strait of Gibraltar. We will have to wait until his tag powers on again late on 18 April to see where he makes landfall.
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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PJ is on his way
17 Apr 2019
PJ has moved north
11 Apr 2019
Having spent the last couple of weeks to the south of Yamoussoukro, the capital of Ivory Coast, PJ is now just to the north of the city. This could be the start of his northward movement that will hopefully see him successfully cross the desert.
PJ still in Ivory Coast
04 Apr 2019
PJ is moving around southern central Ivory Coast and is currently to the west and south of the capital Yamoussoukro in an area of gallery forest.
PJ moves back west
20 Mar 2019
During the last few days PJ and headed back west. He has flown over 100km (65 miles) and is on the banks of the Nzi River to the south of Kassikankro. Presumably these movements are in search of better feeding conditions.
PJ going for it
08 Mar 2019
On Tuesday this week, PJ was still in Cameroon but he has since flown 2,085 Km (1,295 miles) west to Ivory Coast. He stopped briefly in Benin en-route. He is now 180 Km (111 miles) north west of the capital Yamoussoukro. We expect this to be PJ's last stop before he crosses the Sahara. In 2017 he left Ivory Coast to cross the Sahara on 8th April and in 2018 he departed on the 6th April.
PJ is heading west
06 Mar 2019
Having spent the last month in Cameroon PJ is now on his way west. A couple of poor locations around breakfast on 5 March showed he was on the move and in western Cameroon. By mid-morning he was in central Nigeria and by the early evening had crossed the border into Benin, completing a journey of 897km (557 miles) in 12 hours. This puts his average speed for this journey at 46mph. He is currently in an area of open forest in southern, central Benin. His map will update automatically overnight to show his new position in Benin.
PJ still in Cameroon
25 Feb 2019
PJ has been in Cameroon for almost a month now. In 2017 he left Cameroon on 22 February and on the 23rd in 2018. We expect PJ to head into West Africa any day now.
PJ still south of Lake Mbakou
14 Feb 2019
PJ is still in the gallery forest to the south of Lake Mbakou but in the last couple of days he has moved a short distance to the west. It will be interesting to see when we next hear from his tag if this was the start of his journey into West Africa.
PJ continues north
07 Feb 2019
Around breakfast on 7 February, PJ's tag showed that he was in Cameroon. He is now over 1,500km (950 miles) from his winter location in Angola. He is currently in a area of wooded valleys on the northern edge of the Mbam et Djerem National Park, and to the south of Lake Mbakou.
PJ on his way back
29 Jan 2019
During the last few days we have received locations from PJ’s tag that show he is on his way back. He is now 754km (468 miles) north and east of his winter location in Angola and on the northern edge of the Teke Plateau.
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