Roy at the edge of the rainforest - 21 Sep 2012
After their recent movements towards the east, we wondered whether Roy and David might be heading to very different mid-winter locations to the Cuckoos tagged last year. In Roy’s case, this now looks less likely as locations received yesterday afternoon (20 September) showed he had moved SSW by approximately 737km (458 miles) since two days previously. He has overflown almost all of Central African Republic and is now just 16km (10 miles) north of the border between that country and Democratic Republic of Congo. 
 

Roy is in Basse-Kotto prefecture of CAR, about 29km (18 miles) NNW of its capital Mobaye. The habitat in the area is southern Guinea Savannah with gallery forest along the rivers – he has stopped just north of the vast Congo rainforest. If Roy continued on the same path, he would pass about 160km (100 miles) east of the area where the Cuckoos tracked last winter ended up. As the rain is moving south and areas to the north are beginning to dry up, we expect some of the other Cuckoos to follow Roy and Chris to the south over the next couple of weeks.  

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! 

Roy follows the rain - 10 Sep 2012

By the early morning of 7 September Roy was already 141km (88 miles) south of his previous location and was moving SE along the border between Chad and Sudan. By mid-morning on 9 September he had covered a further 251km (156 miles) and was in southern Sudan, 50km east of the border with Central African Republic and 106km (66 miles) north of the world's newest country, South Sudan. Like Indy, he is slowly moving south into less arid areas, following the band of rains produced by the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone as it moves south. 

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.

Roy completes desert crossing - 31 Aug 2012

Locations received once Roy’s tag resumed transmissions today (31 August) show that he has completed his desert crossing. He is in eastern Chad, a few kms from the border with Sudan and about 48km (30 miles) NE of BB. At about 14° N, he is the most northerly of the Cuckoos south of the Saharan. He is in the northern Sahel, where annual rainfall is low, but the bulk falls in July & August at this latitude so the area should be green with plenty of insect food available at the moment. 

Information on this page is only for illustrative purposes and can not be used without our permission © British Trust for Ornithology 2024.