BTO staff have searched the area around Tregaron that David has frequented in previous summers to no avail. Plenty of Cuckoos were seen but non with the tell-tale antenna of a satellite tag that would prove without doubt that the Cuckoo was David. David had been wearing his tag for over five years and the information received suggested that it was beginning to fail. We will never know for sure whether David is alive or not, but we live in hope.

We still haven't given up on David. On 24 May a team from BTO Wales will be going out to the area close to Tregaron that David showed great site faithfulness to in a bid to see him. They will be looking for any calling Cuckoos in the area and, if they find any, take a closer look to see if they can see the tell-tale antenna of the satellite tag. 

When we last heard from David he was alive and well but the battery charge on his tag was low. This might be because David has been spending time under the canopy in the rainforest and out of direct sunlight, making it difficult for the solar panel on the tag to put enough charge into the battery. However, David's tag, at five years, is quite old and it could be that it has finally failed. At this stage we just don't know and if he does move he could pop back onto the map again - fingers crossed.

We haven't heard from David for a few weeks but on 12 January we received a poor location that showed he was still at his winter location in DRC. We have 'lost' David during the winter months in previous years and think that he must spend time under the canopy in the forest, resulting in a poor charge for the batteries from the solar panel on the tag. Once he pops out into better light we should receive more locations from the tag.