Have you ever wondered where migrating birds are going, and where they stop along the way? Solving these mysteries will help us better understand the threats birds face, and how to better protect them and we do that through collecting data from Motus towers, which helps track migratory birds by picking up detections from any bird that has been given a special tag that carries a radio signal. We are excited to share that Audubon Great Lakes’ seven Motus Towers in Michigan, Illinois, and Ohio have all detected tagged bird species of conservation concern that have passed by during their annual migrations, contributing critical data to researchers across the Americas.
Our most recent Towers are installed with partners at Chicago Botanic Garden, Lake County Nature Preserves and Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago, which lie along a major migratory stopover spot. New detections have already been recorded! Just this month, Greenbelt Forest Preserve Motus Tower received its first tag detections – five Swainson’s Thrushes and one Wood Thrush as they migrated through the Great Lakes to their wintering grounds in Central America. The new tower at Chicago Botanic Garden recently detected a Sharp-shinned Hawk, which was originally tagged at Amsterdam Dunes Preservation Area in Wisconsin, before passing through Chicago, and then was redetected in Kalamazoo, Michigan later that week.
Learn more about these efforts and check out the Motus maps tracking Great Lakes birds’ migration journeys!Learn more |
