Meet Onon, The Cuckoo Bird Whose Remarkably Long Journey Across 16 Countries Has Left Scientists Stunned

Onon is a cuckoo bird who took off above the rolling hills of the Khurkh valley in Mongolia in June 2019; researchers who fit him with a tiny tracking device along with one oriental cuckoo and three other common cuckoos, weren't sure if they would see him alive again.

The birds were to embark on a journey to southern Africa. Last month, he was the only bird to return safely with his tracker intact.

A senior research ecologist at the British Trust for Ornithology, Dr Chris Hewson, said, ¡°It¡¯s an amazingly long migration". He stated that Onon's 26,000 km round trip was one of the longest journeys recorded by any land bird.

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Mongolia Cuckoo project

Onon not only left conservationists extremely amazed but has become quite the sensation online too. People followed online updates from the Mongolia Cuckoo Project and watched in awe as Onon cruised across oceans and made 27 border crossings in 16 countries.

Onon returned on May 27 after becoming a celebrity in India, Kenya and Sweden. He was every newspaper's headline back in Mongolia.

Now, researchers are studying relevant data from his journey for clues about why cuckoos travel as far as they do and how climate change can affect them.

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Mongolia Cuckoo project

Dr Hewson worked on the project with the Wildlife Science and Conservation Center of Mongolia and said that he did not believe cuckoos were capable of such extensive migration. He said, ¡°Although they¡¯ve got nice long wings, when they¡¯re flying around the breeding site they look slightly ungainly compared to the other birds".

He added that cuckoos like Onon, who migrate in search of their favourite food -- caterpillars -- travel significantly fast. Using tailwinds, they can motor for more than 1,000 km in a day for a week.

Caterpillars appear in places that are sunny and wet; in summer, they show up in the Khurkh valley and as the weather changes, they travel to India for monsoon and then further on to east Africa.

Mongolia Cuckoo project

The other four birds that set off at the same time as Onon did not return and their fate remains unknown. Their trackers may have failed or they may have died. One of them named Bayan is believed to have died in Yunnan province, China, after flying for 7,200 km in a week from Somalia.

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As researchers compare the flight paths of cuckoos from across Asia, they are exploring why Onon and his peers choose such epic journeys. They could potentially spend winter in Asia or Australasia south of the equator, but they don¡¯t, says Hewson. ¡°Probably partly because the presence of a competitor species, the oriental cuckoo, makes this less profitable than it would otherwise be.¡±

He is Onon a Cuckoo. This bird was in Kenya on 29th April. Today he is in Madhya Pradesh. He has completed his crossing of the Arabian Sea to India and, for good measure, flown another 600 km inland also. It is 5000 Kms flying in a week. Feel that amazing feat. @BirdingBeijing pic.twitter.com/SGfuGO3MkS

¡ª Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) May 4, 2020

The very long journey is perhaps easier than it might appear because there¡¯s such an abundant supply of caterpillars on route, he adds. ¡°If you¡¯re finding food when you get there, it¡¯s not such a costly thing to do in terms of energy.¡± This raises questions over how the cuckoos might manage if global heating or other threats affect the availability of food.

¡°If their stopover sites get lost they will be in big trouble,¡± says Nyambayar Batbayar, of the Wildlife Science and Conservation Center of Mongolia, who said the project had raised awareness of the need to protect key flyways and the areas where the birds rest and eat. In Mongolia, schools in Khentii province have taken part in the project, helping to name the birds and closely following their journeys.

Back in the lush hills and wheat fields of the Khurkh valley, Onon is getting on with life. ¡°He has no time to waste as he needs to set up his territory, defend it from competing males and mate with as many females as possible!¡± the Mongolia Cuckoo Project has informed his fans.