Spring is Here. We think.

Motus Tracking System

Earlier this month I decided to check out the rumour that spring had arrived.


So I headed out so seek confirmation.


One way to do that if you live in south Norfolk County, as I do, is to go to the Long Point Bird Observatory (LPBO) banding station at Old Cut on Long Point.


Thousands of Tundra Swans have already passed through the area on their way to their Arctic breeding grounds.  The Swans were somewhat behind this year due to lack of open water but on this Easter Monday migration was more widespread.  Swallows, Eastern Towhees Kinglets, Phoebes and others were moving through, evidence that we may finally be able to put winter behind us.


The banding station staff and volunteers were busy with birds and, as always in my experience, easily approachable to take questions from visitors.


One question about the technology involved in banding and tracking birds was a timely one.


That is because LPBO has been using the same relatively simple, labour intensive bird monitoring and research techniques since 1960.  That was the year when LPBO was established as the first organization of its kind in North America.                                                                                                                     


Banding and monitoring requires mist nets (Imagine elongated badminton nets.), cloth bags, favourable wind conditions and people power.  Here is a short video that shows how it is done.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihvgEERGKqU


Soon, an LPBO staffer will band the research station’s one-millionth bird at one of their three Lake Erie shore locations. The records provide a huge database of knowledge.  And, while I believe this work will continue, a new system has been developed over the last few years that will take research to a completely new level.


The Motus Tracking System fits birds with miniaturized radio transmitters so that researchers can track the real-time movements of these radio-tagged birds. 


These small transmitters cost about $200.  They weigh 0.3 grams and less depending on the bird that is being tagged. A warbler, who tips the scales at about ten grams, receives a transmitter that weighs about 0.1 grams, for example.

More than 250 tracking stations have been set up to date.  These stations resemble those TV aerials that we all had on our roofs in the fifties.  Each one of these stations can pick up the signal from tagged birds when they pass within about 20 kilometres.  


LPBO Program Co-ordinator Stu Mackenzie is the Motus Wildlife Tracking System Manager.  He reports that researchers and organizations radio-tagged over 1800 birds and bats of more than 30 species in southern Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes, and as far north as Southampton Island, Nunavut last year.


The Motus Tracking system is an exciting new development that will foster cooperation among bird researchers throughout the western hemisphere.  They’ll gain a better understanding of how migratory animals move over land and water.  Better wildlife policies and regulations will result.
For a more detailed description of the tracking system go to http://www.bsc-eoc.org/download/BWCfa14.pdf