Updates from our Cuckoos

Signals received yesterday morning show that Chris has continued quickly onwards from Italy and is already in France, travelling 450km (280 miles) to Charbonnat in southern Burgundy with little rest. This has been a very fast paced journey from Ghana - Chris has covered about 4,600 km (2858 miles) in less than a week, which is not much slower than the fastest of the swifts we have tracked with geolocators! If he is still in good condition and the weather is kind, he could be home in the next few days. 

Although he rested in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria during the day of 4 April after completing his desert crossing, Chris must have moved on that night because when the tag’s next transmission period began two days later he had travelled a further 937km (582 miles) almost due N, having crossed the Mediterranean Sea to reach Italy! He is currently on the Mediterranean coast of western Liguria in north-western Italy and is just 33km (20 miles) from the border with France and 42km (26 miles) from Monaco.  Last year he hit land about 185 km (115 miles) further east in Sarzana.

None of the Cuckoos began crossing the Sahara, as anticipated, over the Easter weekend but we still expect them to make a move soon. Stay tuned for further updates when we get news of any movements. 

Chris has now been in the Digya National Park for 10 days preparing for his next move. Will he do this from Ghana or Ivory Coast, as last year? We do know that he didn't use the same stop-overs on his southward journey as he did the previous year so we will have to wait and see where he will attempt his crossing of the Sahara Desert from this time.

Chris has continued moving rapidly westwards and by Saturday morning (16 March) he was apparently settled in Digya National Park, Ghana. He had moved 1075km (667 miles) west in just over 2 days since the previous location in Nigeria. He is the second Cuckoo, following Chance, to make it to Ghana. Although his current location would be a great place for him to carry out his pre-Sahara crossing stop over, last year he did this in Cote d’Ivoire, so it will be interesting to see whether he stops here or carries on west. 

Transmissions from Chris' tag on 13 March reveal that he is in Nigeria, having moved 430km (267 miles) WNW from his previous location in Cameroon. Chris is in the Benue region, about 33 km (20 miles) to the west of Nigeria’s border with Cameroon. 

Only low quality signals have been received recently from Chris’s tag but these show that on 4 March and throughout 6 March he was slowly zig-zagging in a north-westerly direction. The last of these transmissions at about 6pm, show him 138 km (86 miles) north-west of the location he was in on 4 March. Where will he be when the tag next transmits?! 

Chris is now the only Cuckoo not to have started his northward movement and remains in Congo.  His last transmission was on 25 February - could he be feeding up in preparation or already on the move? Last year Chris moved to Cameroon on 2 March and took a slower route to Ghana than any of the other Cuckoos, stopping in Togo on 6 March and transmitting from Ghana on 13 March.  How closely will this year’s movements mirror those of 2012?