Return migration of Common Cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) between breeding grounds in Hungary and wintering grounds in Africa as documented by non-PTT GPS technology

Abstract

We tagged 12 adult Common Cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) with non-platform terminal transmitter (non-PTT) GPS-UHF telemetry at their breeding grounds in Hungary. One male and two female Cuckoos (one of them twice) were again observed in subsequent years, and GPS fixes documented their migration routes to and from Africa, as far south as Namibia. All four routes showed the species-typical clockwise loop migration. Although currently non-PPT GPS tracking with remotely downloadable data as an ornithological method is primarily suitable to map home ranges of birds, it could be a complement to PTT technology in migration research, especially for delivery of higher spatial accuracy.