Did you know that Delaware Wild Lands has a Motus tower at the Great Cypress Swamp? Well we do! Let me guess, your next question is “What is a Motus tower anyway?” Motus describes themselves as a “diverse, networked community of researchers, practitioners, companies, organizations and people working cooperatively towards shared science and conservation objectives.” To accomplish their mission, Motus has built a global network of radio receiver towers to track the movement of tagged birds, bats, and even insects! Researchers attach small tags to the animals they’re studying and then release them. These tags send out a repeating radio signal that identifies each tagged animal and whenever the tagged animal flies close enough to the tower it receives the signal and records when the animal made contact. This data is then sent over a cellular connection back to Motus, where it is used by researchers! The Great Cypress Swamp is a uniquely large wooded wetland on the Delmarva Peninsula offering important habitat to a whole host of birds, bats, and insects migratory and resident alike, making it a perfect location for a Motus tower! Since the Motus network was established, they have installed more than 2000 towers around the world, with the majority in North and South America. More than 58,000 animals representing more than 450 species have been tagged as part of this effort.  If you’re interested in learning more, visit https://motus.org and if you’d like to see the animals we’ve detected in the Great Cypress Swamp, visit https://motus.org/dashboard/#e=profile&d=stations&s=11304 there you can see every detection at our station, and what other stations each animal passed!
