Ash and Hennah have recently left Lake Mai. Hennah travelled 520km (325 miles) to the west, and in doing so moved to Gabon, while Ash moved 310km (195 miles) north-east. This may be due to slightly dryer conditions during November. Gabon appears to be experiencing wetter  conditions so Hennah may have made a good move.  

As of the evening of 14 December Hennah was no longer on the shores of Lac Mai-Ndombe in DRC. He had moved 530km (329 miles) west and was in Gabon, close to the southern border with Congo. We now have two Cuckoos in Gabon. Chester is in north east Gabon, close to the border with Equatorial Guinea.

From Chad, Hennah appears to have moved south to Central African Republic by early on the morning of the 1 October. Several poor quality locations were received which aren't shown on the map. Since then he has travelled 990km (615 miles) further to Democratic Republic of Congo, south of the equator, and is one of the most southerly Cuckoos. Hopefully good quality signals will be received shortly to show this new location on the maps. 

With most cuckoos now in the Sahel region, we're entering a fairly quiet period in the annual cycle of the tagged cuckoos with less movement than during the migration season.

Birds who completed their desert crossing will spend time in the Sahel recovering their body condition, and some may stay quite a long time. In previous years, cuckoos have stayed in this area for as much as several months, while others spend a shorter amount of time before moving south into the humid zone forests.

The eastern Sahel in Chad and south Sudan has received plenty of rain recently, and thus conditions are likely good for cuckoos. Northern Cameroon was slightly drier than average in August, and so cuckoos such as Derek, Dudley, Stanley, and Emsworthy may be moving on if foraging conditions aren't suitable.

We are still following twenty-two birds. Currently two cuckoos are in France – Walpole and unnamed cuckoo 134957.

Five birds are in and around the Po Valley in northern Italy – BB, Chris, Stanley, Waller and Livingstone.

Six birds are in Spain – Two of these are big movers this week. After finally leaving the UK, Derek hasn’t hung around. After a brief stop in central-western France, he is now in central-northern Spain, just south of Tolbanos de Abajo. It is Maji that has provided the biggest surprise though. He seems to be taking a tour of the European mountain ranges. Having spent a time in the Austrian Alps, he is now in the central Pyrenees!

David is still in Montenegro and Ash is still in Croatia; both of these birds could make the move to Africa any day now.

We now have seven birds in Africa, six of them south of the Sahara. Emsworthy is the latest to arrive here and he is currently just south of Lake Chad, in an area that Chris also favours. Three other Cuckoos – Peter, Hennah and Dudley – are also close to Lake Chad.