Learn more about light-level geolocators, tracking devices that use daylight to estimate location.
levels does not require a lot of electricity, so batteries
On Peru’s pacific coastline, where desert meets sea, lives one of the least studied and most at-risk birds: the Peruvian tern. This bird’s desert camouflage makes it almost impossible to track, but that’s exactly what our team set out to do.
one minute of sound every 10 minutes until their batteries
Learn more about PIT tags, tracking tags with an internal microchip that is activated when it passes a special antenna.
Because these tags do not require batteries, they are
Scientists use different types of tracking technologies to determine the location of a bird at a given point in time.
PIT tags require no batteries, so they can theoretically
A very small wading bird, semipalmated sandpipers are one of the most common sandpipers. They are a familiar sight to beachgoers as they dart about in the waves. Their name, “semipalmated,” means they have partially webbed feet.
(the weight of a single AA battery, or up to 2 AA batteries
The Bornean subspecies of Rajah scops owl (Otus brookii brookii), documented in the wild for the first time since 1892, may be its own unique species and deserving of a conservation designation. Published April 28, in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center ecologist Andy Boyce reported the rediscovery and photographed this elusive subspecies in the mountainous forests of Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia.
100 grams (about 4 ounces), equivalent to four AA batteries
One of most common bird species in North America, American robins can be heard singing their cheerful melody in diverse habitats, from deep forest interiors, to rural pastures, to city parks and backyard gardens. They are thought of as the „bringers of spring,“ due to the species‘ reputation for flying south for the winter and traveling northward during the springtime.
(77-85 grams), about the same weight as three AA batteries
Semipalmated plovers are small, plump shorebirds with a short bill, long orangish legs, and a single black „necklace“ of feathers. They travel across North America each year to their remote sub-Arctic nesting grounds.
1.7 ounces (50 grams, or about the weight of two AA batteries
The Kirtland’s warbler is an endangered migratory songbird that breeds almost exclusively in Michigan and winters primarily in the Bahamas. The species nests on the ground and will only breed in young Jack Pine forests.
One geolocator fell off, two didn’t work, two batteries
February Update As part of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center’s continuing research of the black-crowned night herons that breed at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, we deployed satellite transmitters on three adult herons in June 2016.
birds had made it to Florida before the transmitter batteries
