Motus Tagging at Grange Audubon

Bird Conservation in Action at Motus Event
Bird conservationists gathered together for January’s Motus tagging event near downtown Columbus at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center.  Motus is an international group of researchers that helps tag, track, and analyze the movement patterns of birds, bats, and insects to protect biodiversity and target conservation efforts.  Over the course of the morning, participants caught, tagged, and released birds from several passerine species.   

As a 7th-grade member of the Ohio Young Birders Club, I helped with hand-releasing the birds, each of which was newly equipped with a tiny transmitter that sends signals to Motus antennas.  These antennas are located across the Americas, Europe, parts of Africa, East Asia, and Australia.  The tracking signals from these tiny tags provide critical information about birds, such as migration routes and population trends. 
By participating in the Motus event, I not only gained firsthand insight into how conservation science is conducted in the field, but I also contributed to Motus’s global effort to preserve biodiversity.  The event left me inspired by the remarkable journeys of these small feathered creatures and by the role that citizen scientists, and even young birders, can play in monitoring and protecting bird populations.
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If you are interested in finding out more about Motus, you can explore the official website: https://motus.org/.

​- John Silas, OYBC Central Chapter member
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I attended the MOTUS tagging event at Audubon Metropark in early January. The first thing we did was check the nets that were set up to catch birds. House finches and House sparrows were immediately released. Song sparrows and American gold finches were banded and released. Dark-eyed juncos were banded and given an additional tracker on their back. Blood was also drawn from the juncos before release because they are a target species for study. 

I got to personally release a Song Sparrow, an American Goldfinch and a House Finch. They were soft in my hands and eager to get away.  

​- Harrison, OYBC Central Chapter member