Updates from our Cuckoos

Joe is attempting to cross the Sahara, the first of our tagged birds to take on the desert this year. 

When we last reported on him he was taking a break in Sardinia and new updates received last night (Thursday 13 June) show that he has flown at least 2,270 km (1,410 miles) since.

His journey has taken him across the Mediterranean and by late yesterday afternoon he was flying over Tassili N'Ajjer National Park in south-eastern Algeria. He pressed on and by 6:30 this morning (Friday 14 June) had reached north west Niger.

He seems to have made good progress across the desert so hopefully by the time the next updates arrive he will have successfully completed his Sahara crossing. 

Bluey has flown 343 km (214 miles) south to southern Spain. He is close to the town of Tahal in Andalusia. Last year he stopped approximately 25 miles south-west of his current location but soon pressed on across the Mediterranean and then the Sahara. 

Over the last few days Bluey has powered south over France and into Spain. By yesterday morning he had reached the countryside surrounding the small village of Ribatajadilla in the municipality of Sotorribas, in Cuenca province, Castilla–La Mancha, Spain.

Last year Bluey arrived in southern Spain on 8 July and by 11 July he was crossing the Sahara so if he follows a similar plan this year we can expect him to move on very soon. 

New updates from Joe's tag arrived yesterday evening (Wednesday 12 June) showed that he had flown 483 km (300 miles) south-east from his last location in the south of France.

This journey has taken him just over half-way across the Mediterranean towards north Africa, landing him on Sardinia.

By 8pm last night he was near Bari Sardo in the eastern part of Sardinia. A further, lower quality signal suggests that he pressed on towards Africa so we await further updates with interest.

Since our last update, George has flown 266 km (166 miles) south east through Italy and is now just edging Sayaan and Cuach Torc as our most southerly Cuckoo.

He is currently a few miles west of the town of Canino in northern Lazio. 

Over the last few days Bluey has flown 416 km (259 miles) south. He stopped briefly on Saturday night near Valence-en-Poitou in the Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, but soon pressed on. 

By midnight last night he had reached Castillon-la-Bataille in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in south-western France. 

Cuckoo Trent is finally on his way! New updates received at 05:30 this morning (Monday 10 June) show that Trent has flown 600 km (373 miles) south east across the Channel and into France.

He is now a few miles south of the town of Romorantin, in the Loir-et-Cher department of central France. 

New updates received from Michael's tag on Saturday morning showed that he had flown 600 km (374 miles) south west from Germany into south eastern France.

By the early hours of this morning (Monday 10 June) he had flown a further 162 km (100 miles) south west and was close to the town of Navacelles in the Gard department of southern France.

We have now received the results of the post-mortem kindly performed on Victor II by Vets at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Victor II was tagged on 21 May 2021 in Scotland and found dead in a field of Orange trees in Pobla Llarga (Valencia) on 19 April 2023. Fortunately his body was found and quickly recovered so that it could be sent off for a post-mortem.

The post-mortem, carried out by Vet Ignacio Marco Sanchez, reveal that Victor II was very thin. The recorded loss of body condition suggests to us that he wasn't able to recover from the Sahara crossing, likely due to poor conditions in Spain where it had been extremely dry.

Furthermore, the post-mortem also reported that Victor II had haemorrhages on his head and neck, possibly suggesting that he had collided with a tree in the orange grove. One explanation for this may be that in his weakened state he would have been a more likely target for a predator and may have hit a tree in an attempt to escape an attack.

It is very useful to receive such detailed information about the condition of one of our birds at the end of its life and we are grateful to the finder, Juan Carlos Regojo for facilitating these investigations. Victor II contributed data from two almost complete migrations to Africa and back and gave us even more information after his death.     

Having flown 50 km (31 miles) north to Nangis in the Île-de-France region, Jasper has since flown 37 km (23 miles) south again.

He is now close to the town of Vallery in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France.