Report information
15th October
Nimrod is going further south. He left his roost on the river after 9am, and an hour later was well into southern Senegal, flying SE at 29 km/h. The last signal of the batch today was at 11am, when he was flying East at 35km/h near Koumbamo, heading for the north branch of the Casamanche river, some 50 kilometres NE of Siguinchor. Where is he going to stop? He's getting close to Logie's wintering site in Guinea-Bissau!
At midday, Nimrod was flying east at 51km/h, at 160 metres above the lowlands of Senegal; at 2pm he crossed the southern Casamanche river and entered Guinea-Bissau. At 3pm he was over the headwaters of the River Cacheu flying SE at 45km/h and he had gained height to 577 metres. He carried on south and at 6pm had settled on a small island of trees in the River Geba. Nimrod spent the night here after a day's flight of 186 kilometres.
16th October
He was still on the island at 7am, and at 8am was perched further south in the riverine forest. At 9am he had restarted migrating and was flying SE at 33km/h. Ar 10am he was perched again and then he carried on south,and at midday and 1pm was flying strongly south at 48km/h at an altitude between 115 and 403 metres. At 2pm he was perched by the big river in southern Guinea-Bissau and at 4pm he was only 10 kilometres from the Guinea border in southern Bissau. Interestingly, he was just 80 kilometres east of Isla Roxa, Logie's wintering site. His day's flight was 94 kilometres and he must be getting close to his wintering site.
17th October
Nimrod spent all day in an area of mangrove swamps on the south side of a river estuary, upstream from the village of Cacine in southern Guinea-Bissau. During the middle of the day he moved 2 kilometres to the north and spent time close to a small river running into the swamps. The weather forecast was for rain showers, light west wind, temperature 31 to 33 degrees C - some difference to Findhorn Bay! Sunrise is at 5.48am and sunset 5.40pm.
This may be his wintering area and will be confirmed by his local movements in the next couple of days. He is now 5250 kilometres (3266 miles) from his nesting area.
18th October
Nimrod roosted again in mangrove swamps along the estuary close to last night's roost and in the morning moved out onto the edge of water; after midday he flew north again to the small inlet, and at night returned to the same roost. His day's movement point to point of his hourly GPS positions was 4.56 kilometres. This is looking very much like his wintering site.
Further Reading:
Nimrod's last report: Nimrod jets into Africa
Roy Dennis' Nimrod Migration Blog