As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Monday, 14 September 2015

A Coo for Belfast pupils as they win bid to name bird on satellite-tracked epic flight


By Linda Stewart



We've avidly followed the adventures of Chris the Cuckoo - and now it's the turn of Coo.

The male cuckoo, which is currently making its way south through Africa, has been named by pupils at a school in the Belfast Hills.

The P1 and P2 pupils at Ballymacward Primary School beat off competition from schools across the UK to name a cuckoo fitted with a satellite tag by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO).

They are now following his intrepid voyage via an online tracker, which reveals how Coo is making his way from the UK to his overwintering site in the Congo rainforest.

BTO says it is trying to discover why the UK has lost over two-thirds of its breeding cuckoos during the last 25 years by gleaning information on the routes they take to Africa.

Until recently scientists had no idea where cuckoos went in winter, with only one record dating back to the 1930s.

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