Understanding bird migration and movement patterns more generally allows us make better informed and effective conservation decisions. It allows us to better protect migration corridors as we can help minimize mortality risks to heavily trafficked areas. It also helps us understand what breeding and wintering habitats should be protected—especially for sensitive species and those in decline.
While technology has increased what we can do to track bird movement and behavior in recent years, one major barrier to furthering the field is the weight of transmitters that can be placed on a bird. We have been able to place transmitters that collect GPS locations and transmit them via cellular data plans to the internet, but these transmitters are costly and cannot be safely or ethically affixed to birds smaller than 100 grams in most cases. However, smaller radio transmitters can safely and ethically be affixed to these smaller birds. The caveat is that it is necessary to have a tower/antenna near the path the bird travels in order to detect the bird’s location and obtain information about when/where/how the bird is migrating. This has led to the formation of the Motus network and the concept of our northern fence that would increase the likelihood of a bird being detected as it moved north or south into or out of the state.