Better weather this year has been a boost for migrating cuckoos
August 2013. Since 2011, the BTO have been fitting satellite tags to Cuckoos in different parts of the UK with the aim of finding out what Cuckoos do once they leave for the winter months, and the information that these intrepid birds have provided has been a real eye-opener. Before 2011 the wintering location of British Cuckoos was unknown but these birds have shown that our Cuckoos spend the winter in and around the Congo Rainforest, arriving there in September and leaving again, via West Africa, in February.
With the aim of getting as much information as possible, the BTO have added a new group of Cuckoos to the project. Birds from Devon, Sussex, East Anglia and Scotland have joined those that made the long journey back to the UK this spring, one of which was first tagged in May 2011.
Where are they now?
On the 6 August, the cuckoo known as Derek became the tenth Cuckoo to transmit from Africa, Chance revealed he had made it on the 8 August and Skinner on the 9 August. Derek is currently in Nigeria. Skinner who took the same westerly route, is in Mali while Chance, who took the middle route from Italy to Libya, is slightly further north in Niger.
Ryder is re-attempting his desert crossing from Morocco, locations indicate he was over Mauritania and about half way across the desert.
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