Updates from our Cuckoos

A new update received this morning (6 October) from George's tag showed that he has flown 673km (419 miles) south from his last location in Central African Republic and has reached the Congo Basin.

At 9am this morning he was half way between Cuckoo Joe to his north and Trent to his south.

Cuach Torc was the first of our tagged Cuckoos to reach the Congo wintering grounds this year, arriving on 20th September.

Since then has has remained in the same area, deep in the rainforest of Salonga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This is Africa's largest tropical rainforest reserve, at 3,600,000 hectares it is more than half the size of Wales. This area is very isolated and only accessible by boat.

Cuach Cores' tag is still transmitting loud and clear from a location in the countryside south of the town of Arsac, just north of Bordeaux, France.

Although we don't have any conclusive evidence that Cuach Cores has perished, the fact that he has spent so long in the same location and is so far behind the tagged Cuckoos makes us fear the worst for him.

Over the last week or so, KP has flown first from Sudan into north eastern Central African Republic and then north over the border into Chad. He is now in the south eastern corner of Chad.  

Over the last few days Joe has flown 234 km (146 miles) south-east in Chad, taking him towards the border with neighbouring Central African Republic. 

Over the last few days Trent has flown 1,340 km (832 miles) east, taking him from his original position in Burkina Faso via Togo and Benin into Nigeria. He is now in central Nigeria, approximately 105 km (65 miles) east of the capital city of Abuja. 

George is the first of our tagged birds to begin the final leg of his journey towards his wintering grounds in the Congo Basin.

He has flown 770 km (479 miles) south, taking him out of Chad and into the Central African Republic (CAR). He is now in dense rainforest in south west CAR, approximately 190 km (118 miles) west of the capital Bangui. 

Since our last update Trent has flown 162 km (100 miles) east, taking him out of Mali and into Burkina Faso. He is now in western Burkina Faso, approximately 100 km (64 miles) north west of the city of Bobo-Dioulasso.

New updates received from Sayaan's tag yesterday morning showed that he had flown 140 km (87 miles) north, taking him from Chad, over the border into Sudan. He is now approximately 26 km (16 miles) west of the town of Garsila in West Darfur.  

After spending a week or so in the Meidob volcanic field of Sudan, KP has flown 520 km (323 miles) south into the South Darfur region of Sudan. He is now approximately 28 km (17 miles) west of the town of Tullus.