Updates from our Cuckoos

Victor had been in Ghana since 11 April but transmissions on the 22nd April showed that he was in the Atlas Mountains in northern Algeria. He had completed his desert crossing having travelled over 3113 km (1935 miles).  We received a further series of signals throughout the evening which showed he didn't stop but continued onwards. We were able to follow him mid-way over his crossing of the Channel before the tag turned off. When the tag next sent signals it was around 48 hours later and Victor was a further 1000km north of his previous location in Algeria and was just 50km south west of Marmande in France! He is the fourth of our tagged Cuckoos to cross the desert and is curently further north than Larry, who crossed the desert a few days earlier. 

Victor has continued heading west and has left Nigeria. He has travelled 495km (307 miles) to reach a location in Ghana, just west of the Digya National Park. 

From his last location in Cameroon, Victor has travelled around 995 km (620 miles) to reach a new location in southwest of Nigeria. He is now just north of Lagos, Nigeria's largest City. 

Victor has begun to head west, flying 318km (198 miles) in the last two days. He is currently in central Cameroon on the banks of the Sanaga River.

Having travelled north through Gabon and into Cameroon, Victor has turned east and is currently in Central African Republic. He is the most easterly tagged Cuckoo except for David, whose last tag transmissions were sent from his wintering location in Democratic Republic of Congo. There is 2,619km (1,627 miles) between Victor and our most westerly Cuckoo, Selborne. At some stage in the next week or so we would expect Victor to begin heading west.

Over the course of a few days Victor has headed north, covering a total distance of 950km (590 miles), and arriving in northern Gabon by 3 January. Could this be the start of his return home?

It's more than likely that this is the first northward 'phase' of his annual journey but doesn't necessarily mean he'll continue. He will probably now stay in that region for a couple of weeks before moving north of the forest zone and then moving into West Africa. As he was one of the birds that went so far south this year, he may simply have started early to return to the area that would be a typical mid-winter location for our cuckoos most years.

Signals received from Victor's tag today show that he has left the area he was in, close to PJ, and headed 130km (81 miles) north within Angola. He is now less than 5 miles from both Larry and Bill!  

Cuckoo 161324 has received a name, Victor! He has been kindly named by Mrs Ann Masters in memory of her husband Vic. Good luck on your return journey Victor.  

161324 has moved on from his last location, but not too far. By the 28 he had travelled just 125km (75 miles) in a northwest direction and there he remained for a few days. Recent transmissions on 8 November show that 161324 has made a further small movement of 40km (25 miles) south.

Having spent almost a month in Cameroon, 161324 has moved south, a long way south. Locations received from his tag on 26 October showed that he was in northern Angola just to the south of Cumbo and 1,143km (710 miles) south of his location in Cameroon. He may well spend the winter here.