Sarah Kendrick, guest blog author, is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Migratory Bird Biologist and MMN Telemetry Initiative Chair.
As Chair of the MMN’s Telemetry Initiative, I’ve spent the last 6 years building partnerships to assist in the incredible growth of the Motus Network across the Midwest. The Motus Network is an array of radio towers that collect information from tiny transmitter tags attached to birds and other wildlife that pass by the stations across the hemisphere. Motus is increasingly becoming a powerful tool to help us understand wildlife movements across the landscape and during migration. With the tremendous growth of Motus, I am excited to finally be able to leverage the network and build upon broad partnerships to the launch the Range-wide Wood Thrush Motus-tagging Project with Colombian bird-conservation partner SELVA. With the project’s launch this summer, over 60 partners from state agencies, federal agencies, and non-profit organizations came together to be a part of the largest Motus project of its kind, all to learn more about the survival and movements of the iconic Wood Thrush.
The Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) is a medium-sized songbird of eastern deciduous forests that is known for its flute-like, ethereal, ee-oh-lay song that echoes through the shady mature forests of the eastern US and Canada. This thrush acts as a flagship species for full annual cycle conservation work in the Neotropics and is a priority species for conservation in 25 U.S. states’ State Wildlife Action Plans and holds threatened status in Canada. Improving our understanding of the ecology of this species’ full annual cycle through the collection of migration tracking data is essential to better understand conservation needs throughout its full range and to improve the design of targeted habitat management actions. The Wood Thrush can also hold a Motus tag large enough for the battery to last over a year, which made it a great candidate for an ambitious Motus tagging project.
Read more: Range-wide Wood Thrush Motus-tagging Project Starts Strong
The Midwest Migration Network Radar & Acoustics Working Group welcomes all to attend the 4th International Radar Aeroecology Conference and Workshop in Newark, Delaware, USA hosted by the Aeroecology Program at the University of Delaware.
We hope to see you all in Delaware in August! More information about the Workshop and Conference are below. Please share widely with your networks.
Radar Aeroecology Workshop: 4-7 August 2024 (Registration is limited to 30 trainees)
The workshop is a 4-day long immersive training in the use of weather surveillance radar data for applications in aeroecology. We will cover basics of radar remote sensing, data visualization, and data processing including hands-on software training. There will be field trips to visit Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge and a NEXRAD radar station. At the end of the workshop, trainees will compete in the highly-entertaining trivia game event of Radar Jeopardy! Graduate students and early career professionals are encouraged to participate. Travel awards within the USA are available for up to 10 trainees to cover airfare and hotel expenses. The workshop is limited to 30 trainees.
Radar Aeroecology Conference: 8-9 August 2024
The conference is a full 2-day event with plenary presentations, a poster session, and possibilities for informal discussions and networking.
Calling all Minnesota-area bird banders: Audubon Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri is seeking banding partners in Minnesota to participate in a project that identifies migratory stopover sites for conservation action in the state. Funded by the MN Environmental and Natural Resource Trust Fund, and additional pending funds, this project will be completed through three activities:
Audubon Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and partners are currently in the planning process for this project and their first step is to identify partners in the state that have one or both of the following: experience fitting birds with Motus NanoTags, or currently band one of the identified focal species: Henslow’s Sparrow, Chimney Swift, Bobolink, and Golden-winged Warbler. In order to better serve data needs, the team will be narrowing this list down to one or two species based on partner expertise.
The current plan for this project is to tag birds in time for the 2023 fall migration, however there is some flexibility to start next in 2024 as needed.
If you currently meet one of the above project needs, or can connect the project team with individuals who do, please contact Audubon Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri Conservation Science Manager, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
We are pleased to announce a new working group, which will be led by MMN Leadership Team member, Dr. Jared Wolfe.
This past winter, a small group from the MMN Steering Committee developed a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) proposal focused on (1) developing and implementing a Rapid Assessment of Stopover Site (RASS) habitat quality, (2) identification of drivers of habitat quality across the Great Lakes Basin, both at the landscape and local scales, and (3) developing a Decision Support Tool to help manage high quality stopover habitat in the Great Lakes Basin. The project was submitted through a US Forest Service (USFS) collaborator and was selected to be fully funded.
Although the project will not officially start until funds are released sometime in the spring of 2023, there has been an interest from MMN members in helping develop the project. As such, through the establishment of a RASS Working Group, we plan to discuss the project, objectives and potential areas for collaboration.
If you are interested in joining the RASS Working Group, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to be added to the group email list.
Announcing two MMN Motus-based webinars for the Midwest in December! Please read descriptions carefully, these webinars will not cover an Introduction to Motus but rather potential future Motus-tagging efforts at a regional level and technical details of Motus station placement! We hope you can join us. We also encourage you to sign up on our Midwest Motus Contact List to assist in partner knowledge sharing on station placement, Motus tagging, and tag analysis.
December 2, 9-11 AM CST: Midwest Motus Tagging Brainstorming Session to discuss future tagging efforts at a regional scale, research questions, potential species, and possible avenues to get the work done. Sarah Kendrick will give a brief introduction to Motus-tagging opportunities and challenges for some species in addition to discussions and considerations from other regional Motus-tagging planning sessions. Then the group will walk through a few brainstorming activities and capture participants’ ideas online using Jamboard. Microsoft Teams meeting link: Click here to join the meeting.
December 5: 9-11 AM CST: Midwest Motus Technical Webinar: Station Placement. The Midwest Migration Network’s Telemetry Initiative will be joined by Motus station expert Todd Alleger (Northeast Motus Collaboration and Willistown Conservation Trust) who will present on the nitty gritty logistics of station site selection and placement – the things we often don’t have time for on our broader Motus webinars. Todd has placed and maintained over 100 Motus stations in the northeastern states and worked through site assessment and placement on buildings, existing towers, placing stand-alone stations in remote areas – he’s seen it all! Please enter your questions or Motus challenges beforehand at this Google Form link or bring questions on the day as well. Todd will present for 45 mins and we will have ample time for Q&A. Microsoft Teams meeting link: Click here to join the meeting.
If interested, please enter your contact information into this Midwest Migration Network Contact List that will be made publicly available on the MMN site to assist in strengthening our partner network. This list will help to connect partners close to you interested in Motus for regional and hemispheric Motus partnerships initiated in the Midwest. You can opt out of making your info publicly viewable in the survey if you wish.
Please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with any questions. Thanks to you all for your continued interest and participation in the MMN Telemetry Initiative!
We are pleased to share that the Inland Bird Banding Association 100th Annual Meeting will take place this October 28-30 in Oak Harbor, OH, hosted by Black Swamp Bird Observatory.
Conference address:
Energy Harbor Nuclear Corp
Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station
5501 N. State Route 2
Oak Harbor, OH 43449
This year's Conference will feature paper presentations, poster sessions, networking, bird banding, great food, and the chance to visit one of the continent's most important stopover habitats for migratory birds.
More details are available here.
2022 IBBA Conference Keynote Speaker Dr. Auriel Fournier:
Dr. Auriel Fournier is the Director of the Forbes Biological Station and an Assistant Research Scientist with the Illinois Natural History Survey.
Auriel completed her PhD with the Arkansas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Arkansas in 2017. She then joined the Gulf of Mexico Avian Monitoring Network as a postdoc, working on using structured decision making to better integrate bird monitoring.
Registration Information: