Updates from our Cuckoos

We have been waiting anxiously for further updates on KP's progress across the desert, willing him on during his epic journey. Since our last update he has battled on south, flying a further 920 km (572 miles) from Egypt into Sudan.

The most recent updates received between 3 pm and 10 pm yesterday showed him in the desert some 50 km north of the Meidob volcanic field in Darfur, Sudan.

Although he is still in the desert, he appears to be in a seasonal river bed and with heavy thunderstorms yesterday, he may well be able to find some food here.

We'll keep our fingers crossed that the next time we receive an update from KP's tag he will have completed his desert crossing. 

Trent has continued his journey south through Senegal. He has flown a further 60 km (37 miles) south and is now at the south-eastern corner of the Diambour Forest Reserve in south-eastern Senegal. Clement, one of the very first Cuckoos we tagged, spent some time here on his way south in 2011.

He is also now at the northern edge of the 9,000 sq km Niokolo-Koba National Park.  This vast area of woodland savannah, wet woodlands and seasonal wetlands should provide rich pickings for a Cuckoo like Trent.

New updates received from Cuach Cores' tag between 3 am and 10 am this morning show that he has flown 141 km (88 miles) east from his last location.

He has spent the last few hours close to EDF's Dampierre nuclear power plant  in the town of Dampierre-en-Burly, in the Loiret department of north-central France. 

Over the last couple of days Trent has flown 370 km (230 miles) south from southern Mauritania into Senegal.

He is now in a sparsely populated part of the sahelian plains of eastern Senegal, approximately 27 km (17 miles) east of the city of Tambacounda.

It is the height of the rainy season here so there should be abundant invertebrate life for Trent to feast on. 

Over the last couple of days Cuach Cores has flown 390 km (243 miles) north-west through France, taking him to the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. He is close to the town of Les Hermites, approximately 30 km (18 miles) north of Tours. 

Although we have seen Cuckoos turn back on themselves before, the size of this movement makes us suspect that Cores was unable to improve his body condition at the stop-over locations he had used further south. Hopefully he will find a better feeding area now that will enable him to build up his fat reserves for the journey ahead.  

Since crossing the Sahara, Cuach Torc has flown 117 km (72 miles) south and is now in the Sahel of Central Darfur.

He is currently on the western edge of the Marrah Mountains, approximately 73 km (45 miles) north-west of the town of Zalingei.   

KP has been rather dormant of late, but he's now on the move again. He's finally left northern Italy, departing on Saturday night at around 10pm and progressing south-east through Italy.

By 6:45 on Sunday morning he had reached the foot of Italy but pressed on across the Mediterranean and by 16:25 yesterday afternoon he had reached Tobruk on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt.

He has since progressed onwards south into the Sahara and by the time the last update reached us at 09:17 this morning he had flown 772 km (480 miles) from Tobruk. At that time he was over the desert, straddling the border between Libya and Egypt, approximately 215 km (134 miles) north-east of the Libyan town of Al Jawf.  

KP has flown 2,750 km (1,708 miles) since leaving Northern Italy on Saturday night. Hopefully he has enough energy reserves to take him the rest of the way across the desert, despite the long journey he has already undertaken. 

Having moved north in Spain, Michael has now flown a further 65 km (40 miles) north, taking him back over the border into France.

He is now a few miles north of the town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.

Since crossing back into France from Italy, Cuach Cores has flown 270 km (168 miles) west and is now in the Lozère department in southern France.

He is currently 8 km (5 miles) north of the town of Marvejols and very close to The Wolves of Gevaudan wildlife park.  

Having been so quick off the mark and being the first of our tagged Cuckoos to leave, we might have expected Cuach Cores to be well on his way south by now. But instead, he has spent the past five weeks or so in north-western Italy. He has remained close to the River Elvo, between Salussola and Carisio in the Province of Vercelli.

New updates received from Cores' tag between midnight and 7 am this morning (4 August) show that he has flown 212 km (132 miles) south-west, back over the Alps into south-eastern France. He is currently a few km east of the town of Digne in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department of France. Could this be the start of Cuach Cores' next major leg of his journey south?