Chris the cuckoo has been providing valuable information to the British Trust for Ornithology on the migration of the species
For the third year running, a satellite tagged cuckoo named Chris has returned to the UK having made an epic 5,000 mile journey from his wintering ground in Africa.
Chris is the only one of the cuckoos tracked by the BTO that has provided satellite data for three consecutive years. In that time he and his fellow cuckoos have taught scientists much new information about their migration routes and wintering spots.
Studying Chris year after year has provided valuable data to inform conservation of this declining species. Among other things, the researchers are learning which are the important sites where the cuckoos spend time fattening up on the journey through France, Italy, Spain and north Africa, the different routes they take on both outward and inward migration, and which habitat they choose for their winter homes in Africa. Chris’ behaviour has helped to both confirm other cuckoos’ habits and prove that there is no one rule that covers all of them. For instance, in 2011, Chris spent over a month in the watershed of the River Po in Italy, an area in which several British-ringed birds had previously been reported, confirming this as a very important fattening site. However, once he got to his final destination in Africa, unlike most cuckoos which stayed in forest-savannah mosaics in the Congo, Chris went deep into the forest.
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