Cuckoo Migration

ByRichard Nissen 26 September 201626 September 2016 Reading Time: 1 minute

Cuckoo Migration is one of the great mysteries and to date there is still no agreement on how Cuckoos find their way to the Congo for the winter starting from different locations in Europe.

The team at Copenhagen University under Prof Kasper Thorup have been able to tag fledgling cuckoos to follow their migration. The link shows their results. The British trust for Ornithology (BTO) has been forbidden from tagging young birds as these are deemed too small to carry the extra load of a transmitter. But you will see their results on older birds which seem similar to the fledglings.

See :

Cuckoo migration route use and breeding population change for each tagging location

The cuckoo sheds new light on the scientific mystery of bird migration

Cuckoo tracking

The Cuckoo is one of the migrants we know least about once it leaves the UK, however the BTO track, on their amazing site, the movements of five Cuckoos from breeding grounds in East Anglia to their winter quarters in Africa. http://www.bto.org/science/migration/tracking-studies/cuckoo-tracking Cuckoo tracking what we’ve learnt so far: http://www.bto.org/science/migration/tracking-studies/cuckoo-tracking/what-have-we-learnt Latest Cuckoo tracking news: http://www.bto.org/science/migration/tracking-studies/cuckoo-tracking/european-cuckoo-study…

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Migration observation

I love this little observation by James Mather… “I was on a ladder clearing the gutters end of last week, and over a period of hours heard a number of flocks of birds gathering to migrate, and I could see them heading off in V-formation. Then, at one point, low cloud closed in, but I…

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How young cuckoos find their winter grounds

Please find this interesting link to important work on Cuckoos done by Kasper Thorup and his team in Denmark. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0168940 They were able to tag and therefore track fledgling cuckoos. This work is very important as the major question for us is, how does a fledgling cuckoo find its way to its wintering grounds in…

Read More How young cuckoos find their winter grounds
Mystery of Bird Navigation System Still Unsolved

This link is important as it gives you more information on the work done by David Keays et al, which proved that the magnetite particle array supposed to exist in the upper beak, creates a magnetic compass response mechanism for birds, does not exist. As this article suggests the other candidate for magnetic response is…

Read More Mystery of Bird Navigation System Still Unsolved
New Study Fuels Debate About Source of Birds’ Magnetic Sense

This link gives you a very good overview of the latest arguments about whether Cryptochromes, which are sensitive to magnetic fields and exist in the eyes of birds, help with their navigation. All the great and good involved in this field are quoted. I personally do not think that the quantum effects in a Cryptochrome…

Read More New Study Fuels Debate About Source of Birds’ Magnetic Sense
Avian Compass Reloaded

http://www.2physics.com/2012/10/avian-compass-reloaded.html Please find this interesting piece entitled The Avian Compass Reloaded by Dagomir Kaszlikowski at the Centre for Quantum Technologies, Department of Physics, National University of Singapore. Kaszlikowski talks about the the quantum effect that is required to enable the Cryptochromes in the eye of the European Robin to be sensitive to the earth’s magnetic field….

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