Britain's most famous Cuckoo has dropped off the radar

The satellite-tagged Cuckoo named Chris after wildlife presenter Chris Packham, seems to be missing in action the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) reported last week.

Chris, who was fitted with a satellite-tag in 2011, has been providing scientists with ground-breaking information on Cuckoo migration for longer than any of their other tagged cuckoos.

This year he left Britain on 4th July on his annual migration to Africa, arriving at his usual stop-over site in the Po valley, northern Italy on 16th July.

On arrival however, Chris will have faced a tough time because the region has been experiencing its worst drought in years.

The lack of rain is likely to have limited vegetation growth and reduced the availability of caterpillars, the preferred food of Chris and other Cuckoos, which is bad news for those British Cuckoos who use this area to fatten up.

They need this period of stocking up their resources to give them the energy to make a successful crossing of the Sahara Desert.

Continued ...

Chris the Cuckoo clocks up 60,000 miles

Since being fitted with a satellite tag by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) four years ago, Chris, a Cuckoo named after naturalist and TV presenter Chris Packham, has travelled over 60,000 miles – the equivalent of flying twice round the world. And in his journeys he’s taken in 22 different countries!

The UK’s Cuckoo population has dropped by 72 per cent in the last 25 years. In order to find out what’s driving this decline, the BTO fitted an original five Cuckoos with state of the art tags to enable them to follow the birds as they made their way out of Britain to Africa for the winter. The tags were believed to have a lifespan of two or three years.

Of the first five, Chris is the only Cuckoo still transmitting live data, far exceeding the expectations of the scientists. He is currently in the Congo rainforest, having arrived at his favoured winter spot on 25 October.

Dr Chris Hewson, lead scientist on the project at the BTO, says, “Chris the Cuckoo is a real hero of ornithology. The tag he is carrying has helped us to understand the pressures that he and our Cuckoos face on what is a pretty hazardous migration to Africa.

“He has survived sand storms, hail storms, an exceptionally cold, wet summer, predators over the Mediterranean and in the Congo rainforest, and has crossed the Sahara Desert a whopping seven times since we started following him. We have everything crossed in the hope that he makes it back next spring.”

Chris Packham says, “Chris deserves a medal for what he has given to the understanding of bird migration; he is a truly remarkable bird.

Continued ...

British Trust for Ornithology’s cuckoo Chris returns for third year

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.

Continued