British cuckoos have crossed the Sahara

This video from Britain is called Follow that Cuckoo, BTO Conference 2011.

From Wildlife Extra:

BTO cuckoos all south of the Sahara

Expected all the cuckoos will head to Congo Rainforest

September 2013. With all the BTO Cuckoos south of the Sahara, it is now expected that they will slowly make their way to the Congo Rainforest, where they will spend the winter months.

Livingstone, Chris and Ken are the first Cuckoos to begin heading in this direction, catching up Sussex and Nick who have been in Central African Republic (CAR) and Cameroon, respectively, for several weeks.

Livingstone is currently the furthest south after his recent movements. From Chad, he travelled across the corner of Cameroon, continuing into the CAR by 19 September.

Ken has moved over 975km (600 miles) south-east in the last 10 days, from Nigeria into the Central African Republic (CAR). By the afternoon of 22 September [he] was in the Ouham region in the north-west. Sussex the Cuckoo is also in this area and signals received from Ken’s tag this morning show that he is now only 50km (30 miles) from Sussex’s location.

Chris is also moving south and heading directly towards the region where both Sussex and Ken are currently located. From the Guera region of Chad he travelled south, pausing briefly from the 18 September until at least early evening of 23 September. A single poor quality transmission showed that he has continued south and is now 50km from the border with the Central African Republic (CAR).

Skinner, meanwhile, has backtracked from Nigeria, heading both west and slightly north – not what we would normally expect our Cuckoos to be doing at this time! This has taken him back to Niger. In the last few days, Whortle has recently arrived in the area in Nigeria which Skinner deserted. We aren’t sure what has prompted Skinner’s movement north-west, but if it is poor feeding conditions, we can expect Whortle might also move on from that location shortly. As for Skinner, we will have to wait for further transmissions to see when he may resume his journey in a south or easterly direction. Whortle has now well and truly caught up with the pack.

There is little new to report for Derek and Tor, who are still in Nigeria or for David who is still in Sudan. BB and Waller are still in Chad, as are Chance and Patch who remain near Lake Chad.

Take a look at the blogs and maps at www.bto.org/cuckoos.

Related articles

• British cuckoo migration update (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• VIDEO: Cuckoo tagging provides new clues (bbc.co.uk)
• How the Sneaky Cuckoo Finch Fools Parent Birds with Multiple Eggs (scienceworldreport.com)
• Cuckoo fools host with multiple eggs (bbc.co.uk)
• Parasitic Bird Fights Evolutionary Arms Race… With Itself (richarddawkins.net)
• Cuckoo finch fools host with multiple eggs (richarddawkins.net)