The Famous Five: The Beijing Cuckoo Project Off To A Flyer!

I have just spent a week ‘in the field’ with “Team Cuckoo” and I am elated.  After five days of exhausting 0300 starts, we’ve fitted satellite tags to a total of five Beijing Cuckoos, two females and three males, caught at three different sites – Cuihu, Hanshiqiao and Yeyahu Nature Reserve.  All tags appear to be transmitting normally and we hope, very soon, to be able to receive data about their locations.  All being well, in a few months we will know, for the first time, the location of the wintering grounds of Beijing Cuckoos and the route they take to get there.  Exciting indeed!

2016-05-24 Fitting tag to 1st cuckoo, Cuihu
Chris Hewson and Lyndon Kearsley demonstrating how to fit a satellite tag to the first cuckoo at Cuihu
Tagged Cuckoo 1, Cuihu, 24 May 2016 close up
Cuckoo 1 (female) tagged at Cuihu
Tagged Cuckoo 2, Hanshiqiao, 25 May 2016 close up
Cuckoo 2 (male) tagged at Hanshiqiao.
Tagged Cuckoo 3, Yeyahu, 26 May 2016 close up
Cuckoo 3 (male) tagged at Yeyahu
Tagged Cuckoo 4, Yeyahu, 26 May 2016 close up
Cuckoo 4 (male) tagged at Yeyahu
Tagged Cuckoo 5, Yeyahu, 26 May 2016 close up
Cuckoo 5 (female) tagged at Yeyahu

Here is a short video giving a flavour of the last few days..

Next week we will begin the naming process with local schools who will follow the cuckoos’ progress and learn about their migration and habitat requirements as part of a special environmental curriculum.

Very soon we’ll have a website up and running that will enable the public to follow their progress, too.  Watch this space!  In the meantime, I have set up a dedicated page on the Birding Beijing website where regular updates will be posted in English.  See here.

The project is a partnership between the Beijing Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (BWRRC), the China Birdwatching Society (CBWS), the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and Birding Beijing and kindly supported by the Zoological Society of London, the Oriental Bird Club and the British Birds Charitable Foundation.

It’s a project that has everything – scientific discovery, public engagement, enthusing young people, collaboration between organisations in China and Europe and cultural exchange.  I am hugely grateful to Chris Hewson from the BTO for travelling to Beijing to share his expertise and oversee the catching operation.  He is a superb ambassador for the BTO and for UK science in China.

Chris Hewson (BTO) and Shi Yang (BWRRC) sign agreement to cooperate with the Beijing Cuckoo Project, share the data and work on joint scientific papers.
Chris Hewson (BTO) and Shi Yang (BWRRC) sign an agreement at Beijing airport to cooperate with the Beijing Cuckoo Project, share the data and work on joint scientific papers.

We still need to raise funds to pay for the “satellite services” that will enable us to receive the data…  A dedicated JustGiving page has been set up to receive any donations.  All contributions, no matter how big or small, are very welcome!