Cuckoo Migration

Researchers have tracked a pair of common cuckoos (a Eurasian species) which migrated from China (around Beijing) at least 5,000 miles (8,000 km) to northwestern Africa for the winter.  Previously it was known that cuckoos left China for the winter, but no one knew where they went.  Dubbed Flappy and Skybomb, the two cuckoos had been fitted with minuscule solar-powered tags (0.16 oz, or 4.5 grams), which transmitted signals enabling them to be followed by satellite.   The common cuckoo is found throughout Europe; I have an excellent image from Norway on 17 June 2012, which I have just posted as an extra on that day :)

Tonight I presented my long-prepared show of my photos of European birds, to the Hampshire Bird Club; it was very well received. If you're curious, many of the images are on my web site (including the cuckoo, in fact).

Posted late the next day--after a slow recovery from the strain of the show, and also from the shock of the death of Gwen Ifill--a charismatic presenter of public affairs on public television; as the report in the link says "her death felt to many who never met her like the loss of a companion."  That was certainly how Marylee and I felt.  The News Hour on PBS, which she moderated, devoted the entire program that evening to a wonderful tribute to her.