Impressive Record: Cuckoo Bird Traveled Over 50,000 Miles Across the Sahara in 5 Years

A cuckoo bird called PJ just broke a remarkable record: He traveled over 80,000 kilometers (50,000 miles) in the past five years while journeying to and from the U.K. Common cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) stay in Africa for their winters and relocate to the U.K. in during spring for nesting, typically landing in late April and early May, as stated by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO).

The Decline in Cuckoo's Population

But the rampant birds have become difficult to find in recent decades, with their numbers declining by approximately 65% in Britain since the early 1980s. The species was included in the "red list" of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in 2009, implying the birds are of the highest conservation priority in the U.K., The Guardian discloses.

To get a better understanding of why cuckoo populations are decreasing, the BTO initiated the Cuckoo Tracking Project in 2011 to tag and observe the birds during their universal migration. In 2016, the team planted a satellite tag on the bird as a part of the tracking project.

They've monitored PJ's journey since then over the Ivory Coast of Africa and the Sahara desert, through Spain and France, and at last back to Suffolk, England, where he was initially discovered.

First Bird in the Cuckoo Tracking Project

The BTO revealed PJ is the first bird in the Cuckoo Tracking Project as of April 23, to accomplish five journeys back to his English breeding ground. In the past five years, PJ has passed the Sahara 10 times, flew through the Atlas Mountains of Africa, and navigated Europe's Pyrenees, Emily Beament, environment correspondent reported for PA Media.

Head scientist for the Cuckoo Tracking Project, Chris Hewson, said to PA Media: "He is an amazing and a rare cuckoo, they usually migrate to Africa through either Italy or Spain and maintain the same route every year, but PJ has made use of both routes, and one in between, over the five years; in fact, he stopped in both Spain and Italy last autumn."

By changing his route, PJ may have been able to maneuver unfavorable conditions during his migration and thus boost his chances of survival, Hewson added. Hewson and his team discovered previously that the routes cuckoos take to Africa are connected with diverse levels of death, according to a 2016 report released in the journal Nature Communication.

East vs West Route

Particularly, birds that travel along the "west route," through Morocco and Spain, seem more likely to die before finalizing the Sahara crossing compared with those that take the "east route," through the Balkans or Italy.

Most mortality on the west route happened in Europe, implying that recent droughts, wildfires, large moth caterpillars, large-scale changes in habitat, and decrease in the favorite food of cuckoo, in the region may be to blame.

But in spite of many issues related to migration, PJ has arrived safely in Suffolk once again and is about to turn 6 years old this summer, which will bring him within 11 months of the oldest familiar cuckoo on British record, as stated by PA Media.

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