Updates from our Cuckoos

Derek has travelled a small distance south-east from his last position. The most recent signal, received on 21 February, shows he is currently  near a tributary of the Congo river, close to Site Lac Tele-Likouala Aux Herbes.  Now that Chris has moved north, Derek is the most southerly Cuckoo.  Will he also move north shortly? 

Derek has started to move north. At 08.30 on 14 January he had moved 120km (74 miles) north-east from his mid-winter location. He is now just 9km (6 miles) from Scottish Cuckoo Waller.

Not long after Chris left the swamp forests, Derek also left the area, travelling 230 km (144 miles) southwest to an area of the Cuvette region in central Congo. 

Throughout the evening of 24 October and the early hours of 25 October, we received locations indicating that Derek was heading south-east from his location in Nigeria and by around 3am he was in northern Cameroon. From here he travelled a further 900km (550 miles) in a more southerly direction and by 27 October was in Congo, in the Likouala-aux-herbes area, roughly 30km (19 miles) from Chris’s location.  Chris has spent much of the previous two winters in the area so we wonder whether fellow East Anglian bird Derek may also choose this as a good over-wintering location.

From his location in the Zamfara region of Nigeria, Derek has flown more than 300km (190 miles) in a south-easterly direction and is now in the Kaduna region, 60km (37 miles) west of Jos in the middle belt of Nigeria. 

In the last few days both Ken and Derek have moved around 100km (60 miles) eastwards, although they still remain in Burkina Faso and Nigeria respectively. Meanwhile Skinner has moved out of Niger and headed 305 km (190 miles) east to Nigeria. He is about 90km (50 miles) north-east of the town of Gummi. This echoes Nicks (much bigger) movement last week from Nigeria to Cameroon.

Derek has moved quickly onwards from Burkina Faso, where he was on 8 August, and travelled east to the Kebbi region in north-western Nigeria, covering about 500km (310 miles) with this latest movement.

Derek looks as if has completed his desert crossing! From the locations received in Mali on 6 August, it looks like Derek changed direction and began to head south-east. By 1pm yesterday he had journeyed another 1450km (900 miles) and was in the Est Region of Burkina Faso! He is about 75km (46 miles) north-west of the Pama and Singou reserves and Arli National Park.  At almost the same time, Ken also transmitted from the north-west of Burkina Faso.  Around 475km (295 miles) separates their locations.  

Derek has left Spain and is now in Africa! Signals yesterday afternoon show him over Algeria and continuing on over Mali before the transmission period ended. We will have to wait for further signals to confirm he has made it across the desert.