Updates from our Cuckoos

Since our last update Cleeve has continued south, crossing from Niger into Nigeria. He has spent the last few days at the Hadejia-Nguru wetlands, an Important Bird Area in northern Nigeria.

377 bird species have been recorded here, including two species of global conservation concern, Pallid Harrier and Great Snipe.  

Cuach Cores spent July in Italy, preparing for the next leg of his journey.

Less than a week ago, he suddenly headed south, and crossed the Mediterranean before setting off across the Sahara, pressing on through Libya and into Chad. Our latest signal shows that he is now in the Sahel region, close to the city of Abéché, Chad’s fourth largest city.

Interestingly, Cores remained in Europe well into October last year, and took a very different route to Africa via Spain!

After a lengthy stay in the foothills of the Spanish Pyrenees, Cleeve finally headed south in earnest.

In just two days, he had flown the length of Spain, crossed the Mediterranean and was halfway across the Sahara! He appears to be well on his way, and our latest signal shows that he has passed through much of Niger, and is now close to the Nigerian border.

Since crossing the Sahara almost two weeks ago, Sayaan has been taking it relatively easy and has spent the last few days in the same area in southern Chad, close to the Central African Republic border.

With conditions in this region being wetter and greener, he should find lots of food to help him recover from his epic desert crossing.

Hafren, like Cuckoo Wilfrid, is still in Senegal, but has moved slowly southwards in recent days.

He is currently by the River Gambia, just to the west of the Forêt de Diambour, in the Tambacounda region.

Amazingly, Hafren and Wilfrid are just around 40km (24 miles) apart from one another.

Wilfrid is slowly making his way toward the Guinea border.

He has spent the past couple of days in the wooded savannah and arid forests close to the Niokolo-Koba National Park, a World Heritage Site and home to Lions, Chimpanzees, Hippos and around 330 bird species.

Five days ago we could see that Hafren was approaching the border of Western Sahara from Morocco.

Since then, he continued his journey south, covering a further 1,660 km (1,030 miles).

He then made his way along the coast of western Mauritania and our most recent signal, received at 6.24am today, shows that he has now headed inland, and is in central Senegal, having spent some time in the relatively lush environs of the Sylvo-Pastorale National Park.   

Our last update from Wilfrid, around a week ago, saw him still lingering in Portugal.

However, soon after this he set off across the Atlantic, bypassing the Canary Islands and the Moroccan coast, and making landfall at Dakhla, in the Western Sahara region.  

From here, he continued through Senegal, and our latest signal shows that he is now following the River Gambia and is just 60km (37 miles) from the Guinea border. Since leaving Portugal Wilfrid has flown more than 2,900 km (1,800 miles).  

This is the third ‘autumn’ that we have been able to follow Joe, after he was satellite tagged in Norfolk in May 2022, and he has taken much the same route this year as on earlier migrations.

Mirroring his previous movements, he is currently in south-east Chad, nearing the Bahr Aouk River, on the border of Central African Republic.  

Hafren has now left Spain and is making his way south along the North African coast.

His route saw him setting off across the sea, leaving the Spanish mainland west of the famous Doñana National Park, before arriving on the Moroccan coast just to the north of the city of Agadir.

At 7.36 this morning, we received a signal showing that he was close to the Western Sahara border. In the last 48 hours Hafren has covered around 1,220 km (758 miles).