The Northeast Motus Collaboration recently installed a Motus Wildlife Tracking Station on Lake Shore Marshes Wildlife Management Area (WMA).
Located on the edge of Lake Ontario, this station is the first of five that are being installed on WMAs in New York this summer to track wildlife movement.
Researchers attach tiny tracking devices to birds, bats and insects to help learn more about when, where and how these animals move across the landscape. When a tagged animal flies past a station, information about that individual is instantly recorded. One of the greatest advantages is that the whole system is highly collaborative; data are almost immediately available for anyone to view and explore local or regional movements of tagged species.
Knowing more about migration and movements will help us better understand, manage and protect wildlife species that are too small to be tracked with other approaches. Motus partners and collaborators have tagged over 200 species to study using this approach, including songbirds, shorebirds, butterflies and dragonflies.
Learn more about the Motus Wildlife Tracking System, view videos, and explore new resources for students and educators.
Photo of grey catbird with transmitter courtesy of Powdermill Avian Research Center.
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