A male cuckoo has been called Kidman in honour of Rosamund Kidman Cox, the first and most long-standing editor of BBC Wildlife.
Kidman (the cuckoo) was tagged by the BTO on 30 May 2017 in the New Forest in southern England.
“We’re thrilled to be following the progress of the male cuckoo wearing tag 170434, together with our readers,,”says Ben Hoare, BBC Wildlife's features editor. “Kidman is currently approaching northern Italy - and all our fingers are crossed he makes it safely to Africa.”
The bird is thought to be at least two years old because he was tagged as an adult; cuckoos return to the UK to breed from their second year onwards.
He was tagged using new 2g satellite tags, which are smaller and lighter than the 5g tags previously used.
After being tagged on 30 May, Kidman left the UK in late June and spent a few days close to Paris before flying to southeast France and then east into Italy.
“Kidman joins a project looking to help tease apart the reasons behind the sharp decline during the last 25 years of the cuckoo in Britain,” said Dr Chris Herson, BTO’s lead scientist on the cuckoo project.
“The information he provides will help build on knowledge we already have about the routes our birds take on their way to the Congo basin and savannahs to its south, and the pressures they face on the way.”
Main image: Kidman the cuckoo was fitted with a 2g satellite tag at the end of May 2017. © Andrew Carter/BTO
