Motus Receiving Tower Set to Track Migratory Birds

Ipswich River is thrilled to announce that we've joined the Motus Wildlife Tracking System!

Motus is an international, collaborative research network that uses coordinated radio telemetry to track thousands of individual birds, bats, and insects as they follow their migratory paths.

Each tower in the network automatically records the positions of radio-tagged wildlife as they pass near the receiving station. With this data, researchers are able to determine where a specific animal goes, how fast it moves between points, and how long it stays in a particular area. 

As of June 2021, there are more than 1,100 Motus stations hosted in 31 countries across four continents. This kind of cross-border research would not be possible if it weren't for the huge range of partners that have stepped forward to host Motus stations on both public and private land.

Ipswich River's new receiver station was installed on the sanctuary's Conservation Barn earlier this year. It was brought online at the end of May and is now part of the Northeast Motus Collaboration project.

By participating in this exciting research network, we're helping scientists and educators across New England to better understand the ecology and conservation of migratory animals!