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Updates from our Cuckoos

Read the latest updates from our Cuckoos on their migration.

Kasper has moved on

29 Jul 2011

Yesterday evening (Thursday 28 July) we picked him up 200km (122 miles) south of his previous location, apparently stationary just west of the Challawa Gorge Dam in northern Nigeria. When we last picked him up, in the early hours of this morning he was 35km (21 miles) ENE of here, 30km (18 miles) SW of the city of Kano. We don’t know whether he continued his slow nocturnal movement from here or whether he has settled in this area – we should find out when his tag resumes transmissions on Sunday morning.

Kasper remains west of Aguié

28 Jul 2011
Kasper remains in the area west of Aguié that he has been in since 19 July at least.
 

Kasper settled in southern Niger

24 Jul 2011

Kasper remains in an area of farmland and scattered bushes in southern Niger, approximately 18 km from the Nigerian border.

Kasper stays put

22 Jul 2011

Kasper has moved a few km’s north, and has settled in an area with trees surrounding small pools near the village of Aguié in southern Niger. He has been in this area since Tuesday (19 July) at least.

Kasper completes desert crossing

19 Jul 2011

Kasper successfully completed his desert crossing in the early hours of Sunday (17 July), having moved 1,070km (670 miles) due south in just over two days. He stopped just inside Niger, very close to the border with Nigeria, between the towns of Maradi and Zinder. The google earth map shows that the area is well served by seasonal watercourses and although this is still an arid region, it should be green enough now to provide plenty of food for Kasper as he recuperates from his epic journey.

Since his stopover north of Rome, Kasper has moved a total of 3,200km (2,000 miles) slightly west of due south in just five days.

Kasper is the second Cuckoo to reach Africa!

15 Jul 2011

In terms of travelling the longest distance between transmission periods, Kasper has just smashed the record, travelling approximately 2,200 km (1367 miles) in a SSW direction, placing him firmly in the Sahara. The last transmission period placed him near Rome at 0300 GMT on the 12th July and as Cuckoos are thought to be night migrants he probably stopped there during the day of the 12th before continuing his flight on either or both of the nights of the 12th and 13th July.

We next pick him up in Algeria, in the middle of the Sahara desert at about 8 in the evening of the Thursday 14th July. He is in the middle of the Parc National de l'Ahaggar a mountainous area with spectacular Saharan landscapes (try googling it!). There is very little vegetation in this area – mostly rocks and sand - so presumably we can't expect him to hang around too long in this inhospitable environment. Our next transmission is expected on Saturday night so check back on Sunday morning to see if he has transmitted.

Kasper moves south

13 Jul 2011

As expected, Kasper’s tag sprung into life again when he moved on. In the early hours of yesterday morning (12 July) we received a location for him about 30km (18 miles) NW of the outskirts of Rome (43km (27 miles) from Vatican City). He had moved 270km (170 miles) SSE from his previous position. He is our most southerly Cuckoo, except for Clement, having departed the area in which he was tagged at the same time as him.

No word on Kasper

11 Jul 2011
We have received no new messages from Kasper. We would imagine that his tag will re-charge and resume transmissions when he moves on, as happened with Chris and Clement after their recent ‘blackouts’, so we are waiting to see where he will pop up!

Kasper unmoved

08 Jul 2011
Kasper’s tag is still not charging well but we received good quality fixes for him on Monday evening (4 July) and yesterday morning (7 July) which place him in the same area, near Serramazzoni 50km (30 miles) west of Bologna.

Kasper's tag low on power

04 Jul 2011

Kasper has remained in the same area until at least 30th June. His tag does not appear to be charging particularly well so we are only getting intermittent, low accuracy fixes. The single fix we received was of such low accuracy we are not sure if he has moved or not!

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