The Motus Wildlife Tracking System is a powerful tool for conservation. This international, collaborative tracking network of automated radio telemetry stations has transformed our understanding of animal movements – like birds, bats, and large insects. More than 2,000 Motus receiver stations have been installed across 34 countries, and tens of thousands of animals have been tagged with Motus compatible transmitters. By equipping birds with lightweight Motus transmitters, researchers can track their movements across vast distances. Receiver stations detect signals from these transmitters and provide real-time data on migration timing and routes for even the smallest bird species.
Lina Rifai in Associate Professor of vertebrate Biology at Indiana University, Kokomo.
Sponsored by Becky Lomax-Sumner
Program: Signals in the Sky – How Tiny Tech on Wings is Helping Us Save the Birds
Speaker: Lina Rifai, PhD, associate professor – Vertebrate Biology, IU - Kokomo
Introduced By: Betsy Lomax-Sumner
Attendance: NESC: 95 Zoom: 22
Guest(s): Chery Milvikas, Donna Holl, Robin Janson, Grace Whitten
Scribe: Ruth Schmidt
Editor: Ed Nitka
Talk’s Zoom recording found at: https://www.scientechclubvideos.org/zoom/12082025.mp4
Becky Lomax Sumner introduced Lina Rifai, who graduated with a Ph.D. in Behavioral Ecology from the University of Louisville. In her work as a professor at Indiana University, Kokomo, Lina tracks birds using the Motus system. She helped install the only Motus station in the Indianapolis area at Fort Benjamin Harris State Park.
What is Motus?
Motus is a system for tracking the movement of small birds, bats, and insects. The system includes stations (towers or portable hand-held) and transmitters attached to the birds, bats or insects. Signals are detected, processed and shared to enable conservation projects.
How does Motus work?
Motus stations are present in various locations in North America, Europe, Central America, Australia and New Zealand. These stations can detect transmissions from 15 to 20 km away. Three frequency bands are used: 166 MHz, 434 MHz, and 2.4 GHz. The lower frequency bands are particularly prone to interference in urban areas. The transmitters weigh as little as 0.06 g. These transmitters can be used for smaller birds and butterflies. A transmitter must be 3% or less of the creature’s weight. (Larger GPS transmitters depending on satellites can be used for larger birds like hawks.)
The steps for installing a transmitter are: 1. Catch the bird. 2. Activate the transmitter. 3. Place the transmitter on the bird. 4. Release bird and deploy the transmitter within the Motus Network. Activating the transmitter in step 2 is very important as remote activation is not possible and the bird won’t come back. Her slides demonstrated this process for a leg loop transmitter, a backpack transmitter, and a glued transmitter. Professor Rifai referenced a recent New York Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/science/monarch-butterfly-migration-tracking-sensor.htmlWe can now track individual monarch butterflies; it’s a revelation. There is concern that the transmitter alters the migration path the butterflies take as they deal with the extra weight.
In addition to Motus towers, the tracking stations may be handheld by volunteers who go on long walks to detect transmissions. Professor Rifai thanked her guests for their dedication to this work. At the end of the video clip, Professor Rifai showed us actual leg loop, back pack, and adhesive type transmitters.
How does Motus help birds?
The collaborative work to understand the migration patterns and life cycle of birds, bats, and insects contributes to understanding where we must protect habitats and improve other conservation efforts. Some interesting facts: about 100 million birds are killed by windmills, 1 billion are killed by impacting windows and 2 billion are killed by feral and domestic cats. The longest migratory path by a bird is from Alaska to New Zealand.
Lina Rifai
