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Updates from our Cuckoos

Read the latest updates from our Cuckoos on their epic migration between the UK and tropical Africa, or track their movements in real-time on our Cuckoo migration map.

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BB heads south to join the other Cuckoos

06 Dec 2012

Having been in the Chari-Baguirmi region of southern Chad since 17 September, where he was the most northerly of the Cuckoos we are still tracking, BB has now moved south to a similar latitude of the other four Cuckoos.

Locations from early evening on 4 December show that he had moved 1,310km (815 miles) south-west from his position two days previously and had become the second of the Cuckoos tagged in Scotland in 2012 to reach the Téké Plateau – the area of savanna and gallery forest in central Congo in which four of the Cuckoos tagged in East Anglia last year spent last winter. He was arriving from the north when locations were received so he will not necessarily settle in this exact area. The last transmission shows him 16km (10 miles) south-west of Okoyo – this area was visited briefly by Lyster last winter before he settled about 58km (36 miles) to the north.  The nearest Cuckoo this year is Chance, who is on the edge of the Téké Plateau about 108km (67 miles) to the north-west. 
 
Although the numbers are very small, assuming BB remains close by, the fact that the two remaining Cuckoos tagged in the south-west Highlands of Scotland are wintering in the area that harboured four of last year’s Cuckoos tagged in East Anglia possibly suggests high overlap in the wintering areas of these two populations. 
 

Scottish Cuckoos sitting pretty

23 Nov 2012
BB’s tag transmitted this morning and shows that he is still in Chad. If you zoom in to his position on the map you can see he has not moved from his position on 18 September.  He is 174 km (108 miles) northwest of Sarh, the third largest city in Chad and the capital of Moyen-Chari region.
 
We received signals from Chance’s tag yesterday and he remains in Gabon, although he is about 32km (20 miles) SW of his position on 12 November. Roy has still not reappeared, with the last date we received any information from his tag being the 4 October. We had hoped that we may have received some news by now.

Cuckoo update

09 Nov 2012

There are currently just five tagged Cuckoos from which we are still receiving regular transmissions. While BB, LLoyd and David have all transmitted in the last couple of days, none of them have moved from their previous positions. Chris's tag transmitted on 7 November and showed he had made a small movement south of about 34km (21 miles), taking him closer to the Ubangi river. Chance also seems to have made a small movement recently and is now south-west of the Faro Reserve and only 54km (34 miles) from the border with Nigeria. 

Receiving regular transmission from BB and Chance

01 Nov 2012

BB is still in Chad, with a transmission received late last night, while Chance’s tag transmitted the day before, on the evening of 30 October, from Cameroon. About 572km (355 miles) separate Chance and BB from each other.  

Update on Scottish Cuckoos

16 Oct 2012

BB’s tag transmitted locations over the weekend showing that he remained in Chad.  Meanwhile, we have not received any further transmissions from Roy's tag since the 6 October. Whilst we had no cause for concern for Wallace when his tag last transmitted on the 14 September, the longer the silence continues, the more we wonder why.

BB and Chance in Chad

28 Sep 2012

BB and Chance remain in Chad and have transmitted in the last couple of days. Chance is still in the vicinity of Lake Chad while BB is further south. 

BB still in Chad

18 Sep 2012

When we last received a location for him early on Sunday morning, BB was heading south and straight towards Central African Republic (CAR). We wondered how much further he would get that night and whether he would be the first tracked Cuckoo to reach that country this year. But when his tag began transmitting again this morning we found out that not only had he not got any further – in fact he had headed back north by about 75km (47 miles) to a location in Chari-Baguirmi region – but also that Chris had leapfrogged him and become the first Cuckoo in CAR!

BB leapfrogs the pack

17 Sep 2012

BB has leap-frogged over all of the other tracked Cuckoos in Africa and goes from being the most northerly of them to the most southerly! On 13 September he was still at his position close to the border between Chad and Sudan but by the afternoon of Saturday 15 September he was 426km (265 miles) SW of here, in Guera Prefecture in southern Chad. That evening he headed off in a SW-erly direction again and when the last location was received in the early hours of 16 September he was 276km (171 miles) further on, in Tanjile Region. It will be interesting to see how much further he has got when his tag starts transmitting again tomorrow morning (18 September) – the last location placed him about 180km (112 miles) from the border with Central African Republic. Will he be the first tracked Cuckoo to make it there this year?

All quiet on the Cuckoo front

14 Sep 2012

There have been no movements of note from our Cuckoos in the last few days. Transmissions have been received from Indy and Chance today and Lloyd, David, Wallace, Roy, BB and Chris in the last few days. Hopefully there will be more to report after the weekend! 

Just 30 miles separate BB and Roy

06 Sep 2012

We have received signals from both BB and Roys' tags which show that they remain in the east of Chad, close to the border with Sudan. They are just 48 km (30 miles) apart and are the two most northerly of the tracked Cuckoos in Chad.

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