All 5 cuckoos now in Central Africa
October 2011. Kasper has become the first of the 5 cuckoos that BTO are tracking to cross the Equator and he is now the most southerly Cuckoo! Having moved rapidly south, by the morning of 23 October, he was in the savannas of southern Congo, about 50km north of the capital Brazzaville. He seems to have taken a route that minimises the distance across the rainforest.
Is Congo their final destination?
Meanwhile, Lyster, despite being the last Cuckoo to leave the UK, has leap-frogged Clement and is now further south than both him and Martin! Having left Burkina Faso, Lyster was located in southern Nigeria on the 24 October, and has now travelled along the western edge of Cameroon, in to Gabon (see orange route on maps). Kasper also stopped in Gabon for four days before moving in to Congo. Lyster is now in the massive area that is the Congo rainforest, in which Kasper, Martin and Chris are also located. Kasper and Chris though, are in Congo itself, while Martin is in the Central African Republic. Clement remains in Nigeria.
Read on ...
Showing posts with label cuckoo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cuckoo. Show all posts
Monday, October 31, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Satellite tracked cuckoo reaches Africa
BTO Tracking Cuckoos into AfricaJuly 2011. The 'Red Listed' Cuckoo is one of the UK's fastest declining migrants. Over 50% of the birds migrating between Europe and Africa have disappeared over the past 25 years. Our knowledge about what this amazing species does once it leaves the UK in August is extremely poor, hampering our ability to explain population changes. We lack even basic information about the routes they take to Africa, when they arrive in their wintering grounds, the habitats they use there and how they move around within Africa. This information is urgently needed to form conservation strategies and initiate action - with the development of new 5g tags we can now track this species.
Three Cuckoos have started on migration and have begun their long migration south, while one Cuckoo still remains in Norfolk. Read the blogs below to find out more.
Clement has become the first of the five cuckoos to make it to Africa! Reports have located him on a northern slope of the Atlas mountains - one of the last vegetated locations before the Sahara. This is incredibly exciting on three counts - not only is he the first British Cuckoo tracked all the way to Africa, it's also the first time ever that a British Cuckoo has been known to migrate through Spain to Africa and, thirdly, we had no idea they reached Africa this early! It was commonly thought they left the UK around now.
Vital information
The Cuckoo is one of the migrants we know least about once it leaves the UK. After they reach south-eastern Europe the recoveries of ‘ringed' Cuckoos supply no further information, apart from the recovery of one young bird that was found in mid-winter in Cameroon. Knowing where the Cuckoo spends the large part of the year when they are not present in Britain is vital to fully understanding the causes of their declines.
In 2011 we are using small 5g satellite tags to track the movements of five Cuckoos from breeding grounds in East Anglia to their winter quarters in Africa. These have been fitted by BTO staff working with our highly skilled volunteer ringers.
See the map of the cuckoo's migration. http://www.bto.org/science/migration/tracking-studies/cuckoo-tracking?utm_medium=email&utm_source=BTO&utm_campaign=July++2011+Enewsletter&utm_content=cuckoo&dm_i=IG4,GY60,39PPHC,1DSL9,1
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/satellite-cuckoos.html
Three Cuckoos have started on migration and have begun their long migration south, while one Cuckoo still remains in Norfolk. Read the blogs below to find out more.
Clement has become the first of the five cuckoos to make it to Africa! Reports have located him on a northern slope of the Atlas mountains - one of the last vegetated locations before the Sahara. This is incredibly exciting on three counts - not only is he the first British Cuckoo tracked all the way to Africa, it's also the first time ever that a British Cuckoo has been known to migrate through Spain to Africa and, thirdly, we had no idea they reached Africa this early! It was commonly thought they left the UK around now.
Vital information
The Cuckoo is one of the migrants we know least about once it leaves the UK. After they reach south-eastern Europe the recoveries of ‘ringed' Cuckoos supply no further information, apart from the recovery of one young bird that was found in mid-winter in Cameroon. Knowing where the Cuckoo spends the large part of the year when they are not present in Britain is vital to fully understanding the causes of their declines.
In 2011 we are using small 5g satellite tags to track the movements of five Cuckoos from breeding grounds in East Anglia to their winter quarters in Africa. These have been fitted by BTO staff working with our highly skilled volunteer ringers.
See the map of the cuckoo's migration. http://www.bto.org/science/migration/tracking-studies/cuckoo-tracking?utm_medium=email&utm_source=BTO&utm_campaign=July++2011+Enewsletter&utm_content=cuckoo&dm_i=IG4,GY60,39PPHC,1DSL9,1
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/satellite-cuckoos.html
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Cuckoo fears
Tuesday, 20 July 2010 13:07 UKWatch our short film showing the flight of the cuckoo
A survey has revealed a steep decline in the number of cuckoos in the south west.
The population has fallen by nearly three-quarters since the mid '90s.
Tony Whitehead is from the RSPB in the South West.
He says: "The cuckoo's iconic song was once a common sound over much of the region, heralding summer and the return of warmer weather.
"Nowadays though, you'll be unlikely to hear a cuckoo anywhere away from the region's uplands and heaths.
"The reasons for this decline, and why it's so sharp in the south west, are not entirely clear although other long distant migrants are facing similar declines."
It's not just the much loved cuckoo that seems to be in trouble. Wildlife conservationists are also concerned about the decline of kestrels and swifts in the region.
Tony says: "The sight of kestrels hovering over road verges, or the sounds of swifts screaming above our houses in high summer is becoming a lot less common.
"For kestrels, more research into their declines is needed. From the '70s to the '90s agricultural intensification had its effects on these birds, but over the past decade more and more farmers have put measures in place on their land to help wildlife. This is really paying off for many species, but the kestrel seems still to have problems.
"With swifts, virtually the whole UK population nests in buildings. However improvements and the removal of access to lofts and roof spaces mean that increasingly the birds have no-where to go.
"We are working hard with developers and individuals to encourage the fitting of special swift nest boxes into buildings or designing special places for the birds in roof spaces."
The Breeding Bird Survey was carried out by countless volunteers across the UK.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/cornwall/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_8837000/8837996.stm
(Submitted by Liz R)
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Is the cuckoo clocking in too late?
May 2010: Breeding cuckoo numbers have dropped by two thirds over the past 25 years - and researchers believe climate change may be to blame.
Birds whose nests cuckoos will traditionally use, such as the dunnock and meadow pipit, are nesting earlier, and researchers at the British Trust for Ornithology wondered if the cuckoo was now arriving back in the UK too late.
The cuckoo is one of the UK's best-known summer visitors, returning from West Africa during late April and early May to breed. It is a brood parasite, laying its eggs in other birds' nests. The top four host species are dunnock, pied wagtail, meadow pipit and reed warbler and this latest study examines whether changes in the abundance of these species, or the timing of their breeding were having an impact on the cuckoo's decline.
Yet of the four main host species there has been a decline only in the meadow pipit, which researchers say accounts for just one per cent of the falling number of cuckoos. Dunnocks, pied wagtails and reed warblers are all now nesting five to six days earlier, but although dunnock and pied wagtail nests were likely to be less available to the cuckoo as a result, said researchers, the reed warbler breeds late, and so when it nests early it works to the cuckoo's benefit.
Cuckoo decline remains a mystery
Researchers concluded that neither the abundance of the host species, nor their change in breeding patterns were significant enough to fully account for the rapid decline in cuckoo numbers.
Stuart Newson, Senior Research Ecologist at the BTO said: ‘Host availability does not appear to be a major drive of cuckoo declines, so we are left with a smaller number of possible explanations. Given cuckoo breeding ecology and migration strategy, these include reduced prey (mainly caterpillars) availability during the breeding season or the deterioration of conditions along migration routes or on over-wintering grounds in sub-Saharan Africa. These should be the focus of future work into the decline of this charismatic species.'
Cuckoos which breed in Britain during the summer overwinter in West Africa, where increasing agriculture and forest clearance are causing significant land-use changes and loss of habitat. These regional changes reflect a growing global demand for food, timber and bioenergy. BTO's long-term research partner, JNCC, is investigating the impacts of such drivers on global ecosystems and their impacts on local biodiversity, including migratory species which visit Britain.
The BTO is carrying out research on migrant birds in West Africa to identify the pressures these birds face there during the winter months. For more information visit www.bto.org/appeals/out_of_africa_appeal.htm
Birds whose nests cuckoos will traditionally use, such as the dunnock and meadow pipit, are nesting earlier, and researchers at the British Trust for Ornithology wondered if the cuckoo was now arriving back in the UK too late.
The cuckoo is one of the UK's best-known summer visitors, returning from West Africa during late April and early May to breed. It is a brood parasite, laying its eggs in other birds' nests. The top four host species are dunnock, pied wagtail, meadow pipit and reed warbler and this latest study examines whether changes in the abundance of these species, or the timing of their breeding were having an impact on the cuckoo's decline.
Yet of the four main host species there has been a decline only in the meadow pipit, which researchers say accounts for just one per cent of the falling number of cuckoos. Dunnocks, pied wagtails and reed warblers are all now nesting five to six days earlier, but although dunnock and pied wagtail nests were likely to be less available to the cuckoo as a result, said researchers, the reed warbler breeds late, and so when it nests early it works to the cuckoo's benefit.
Cuckoo decline remains a mystery
Researchers concluded that neither the abundance of the host species, nor their change in breeding patterns were significant enough to fully account for the rapid decline in cuckoo numbers.
Stuart Newson, Senior Research Ecologist at the BTO said: ‘Host availability does not appear to be a major drive of cuckoo declines, so we are left with a smaller number of possible explanations. Given cuckoo breeding ecology and migration strategy, these include reduced prey (mainly caterpillars) availability during the breeding season or the deterioration of conditions along migration routes or on over-wintering grounds in sub-Saharan Africa. These should be the focus of future work into the decline of this charismatic species.'
Cuckoos which breed in Britain during the summer overwinter in West Africa, where increasing agriculture and forest clearance are causing significant land-use changes and loss of habitat. These regional changes reflect a growing global demand for food, timber and bioenergy. BTO's long-term research partner, JNCC, is investigating the impacts of such drivers on global ecosystems and their impacts on local biodiversity, including migratory species which visit Britain.
The BTO is carrying out research on migrant birds in West Africa to identify the pressures these birds face there during the winter months. For more information visit www.bto.org/appeals/out_of_africa_appeal.htm
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