Updates from our Cuckoos

By the 28 December, Skinner had travelled a short distance south but stayed in that location only briefly, heading north-west 130km (80 miles) towards the coast, and by 30 December was in Quiçama National Park. Due to war and poaching much of the wildlife, including the Elephant population, in this park was decimated but a rehabilitation programme during 2000 and 2001 saw two successful relocations of elephant from over populated parks in Botswana. 

The next signals received were on 6 January and revealed he had again moved on, 110km (65km) north. His new location means that he is now just 65km (40 miles) west of Chris, another of our East Anglian Cuckoos.  

Chris and Skinner look set to spend Christmas in Angola, having spent several weeks in the area. Skinner first transmitted from Angola on 18 November, while Chris joined him at the beginning of December. 

Angola is a new country for the project, visited by the Cuckoos for the first time this year. In the past two years of the project, Chris has spent Christmas in the Congolian swamp forests but has opted for a change this year. We aren't entirely sure why, but it is likely conditions weren't as good this year, as other Cuckoos using this area have also moved away.

When we first started the tracking project it was estimated that the satellite-tags fitted to the Cuckoos would last for between 2-3 years. So far we have 2.5 years of data for Chris on his migration and, fingers crossed, we are really hoping to complete a third year to see whether this different wintering location has any affect on his return migration to the UK.   It will also be interesting to see whether Angola is a place that Skinner may return to, as this is the first year we have tracked his migration and so do not have data to indicate this may be different from previous years. 

Low quality transmissions received from Skinner's tag show that he has moved 85km (53 miles) further south within Angola, to the Cuanza Norte region. 

Skinner was still in Congo on 14 November but his new location, received yesterday, really surprised us! Skinner had moved 550km, heading even further south, and as of yesterday afternoon he was in Angola.

Not only is this a brand new country for any of our tagged Cuckoos since the project began, it is also the furthest south, by several 100 kilometres, that any of our Cuckoos have ever ventured. If you are surprised by this – take a look at what the Cuckoos from Belarus have done here. 

The last signal from Skinner's tag in Gabon was on the 1 November. A couple of days afterwards he popped up in the Reserve de chasse de la Lefini in the Pool region of Congo, 340km further south-east from his previous location. This location is about 120km (75 miles) north of Kinshasa. He is now one of two of our most southerly Cuckoos, David being the other, who is 480km (300 miles) to the east. 

Up until the 20 October, Skinner remained in southern Cameroon but by the 24 October he had travelled 200km (125 miles) and was in north-eastern Gabon in an area of the Congo rainforest.

Despite this, Skinner is still 400km north of the most southerly Cuckoos, David and Tor. Will he move further south to winter or will he be happy to stay slightly further north, as Chris has tended to do in previous years? 

Shortly after Skinner's movement, Ken also travelled to Gabon, transmitting from a location around 220km (140 miles) to the south of his location. 

From the Zamfara Region of Nigeria, Skinner has backtracked, heading both west and slightly north - not what we would normally expect our Cuckoos to be doing at this time! This movement of about 235km (148 miles) takes him has taken him back to Niger, where he is now in the south-east corner of the country. In the last few days, Whortle has recently arrived in the area in the Zamfara region which he left behind. We aren't sure what has prompted this movement, but if it is poor feeding conditions, we can expect Whortle might alss move on from that location shortly. As for Skinner, we will have to wait for further transmissions to see when he may resume his journey in a south or easterly direction. 

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.

On the 18 August Skinner’s tag transmitted from Niger revealing that he had moved on from his last location in Burkina Faso. He is still close to the border between the two countries and around 100km (60 miles) from Niamey, the capital and largest city of Niger. Niamey lies on the Niger River and has an estimated population of over 780,000.