Bird #303

We have an exciting update about one of the birds that we placed a Motus tag on earlier this summer: For the very first time a Prairie Warbler has been tagged in the United States and picked up by a tower in the Motus system!
 
 One of the three birds tagged this July on Sam Shine Foundation property sent a signal that was picked up by a tower in southeast Georgia- indicating that the bird (affectionately known as #303) had flown from Indiana to the Georgia coast- a distance of more than 800 kilometers. Overall, the prairie Warbler has lost more than half their population in the last fifty years, so this individual is helping us to learn more about their migration routes and where they spend the winter so that conservation work can be better targeted to help turn around the declines. 
 
This map shows where bird #303 was tagged in southern Indiana, and where the bird was picked up by a Motus tower as it was migrating through southeast Georgia- likely on its way to the Caribbean for the winter months. Future plans are already being made to tag more Prairie Warblers in 2026 and to help fund additional towers to strengthen the Motus network. This connects cutting edge science and technology to more traditional conservation work with a goal of turning around some of the declines that we see in so many bird species across the country.