Over the weekend we received signals to show that Chris had embarked upon his desert crossing and was on his way north over Mali, 1345km (835 miles) north of his last location in Ghana. We will have to wait for further signals to see whether he has made it safely across.

Chris is on the move! A good quality signal on 31 March placed Chris just inside the border of Ghana, showing that Chris had made his move west, albeit later than in previous years. Since the last transmission received on 21 March he has covered 1700km (1060 miles).  We are glad to see he is once again on his way. This will be the fourth return journey over which we will have followed him - we wish him a safe return! 

Chris is still at the same location in Central African Republic and has yet to move west. Looking back at his movements last year we can see that he is in almost the same area within Central African Republic as in 2014 but had left the area by 14 March and moved west to Nigeria. By the 21 March 2014 he was just inside Ivory Coast, as many of our other tagged Cuckoos are now. 

In the first two years Chris only ventured as far west as Ghana before making his desert crossing in early April. Last year was the first time he had ventured as far west as Ivory Coast. In all three years, however, he was in West Africa by this point in March and making the final preparations for his desert crossing in early to mid April. He embarked on his desert crossing last year slightly later on 12 April 2014.  

It's interesting to note that he was later leaving Europe this year compared to previous years. His delay in moving to West Africa will likely push the date of his desert crossing back and we will have to wait to see how this affects the rest of his journey.  

In the last few days Chris has moved to the northern edge of the rainforest, having left his location in Congo and travelled 630km (390 miles). He has flown across the entire breadth of the forest spanning Congo and Central African Republic, at which point it is slightly narrower than to either the east and west. 

He is now in Central African Republic where Emsworthy, Livingstone and David are currently. Livingstone has also only moved to this area recently, travelling 590km (370 miles) north-east from Gabon. We now have five Cuckoos on the edge of the forest getting ready for the next stage of their migration to West Africa, where two of our Cuckoos already are. 

No signals had been received from Chris' tag since the 21 Janaury but by the 2 February Chris was on the move again. Low quality signals show he had travelled the 490km (300 miles) north it took to leave Angola and take up a location in the  Reserve de chasse de la Lefin in Congo. This is the first stage of his migration north as he moves into the area many of the other tagged Cuckoos spent the winter. This isn't currently on the map due to the low quality but hopefully further signals will be received shortly confirming his location.