Dear Motus
A consortium of Motus collaborators led by Western University, University of Guelph, University of Waterloo, University of Saskatchewan, Acadia University, Ducks Unlimited Canada and Birds Canada are currently developing a proposal to expand the coverage of the Motus system from coast to coast across Canada, and fill important strategic gaps in areas of interest. In preparation for this national proposal, we are starting the process of finding potential collaborators with new sites/locations for Motus stations. This infrastructure would be provided to the collaborator free of charge in return for hosting. Potential sites could include existing towers or buildings, university campuses, private or commercial property, parks, nature reserves, or other public spaces.
We are eager for your participation to help us expand the Motus array in Canada by potentially hosting a station and/or becoming a collaborator in other ways. More information about what is required in hosting a station is available here (https://motus.org/get-involved/#1-host-a-station).
If you are interested in aiding with the expansion of Motus in Canada and potentially hosting a station, please fill out this short survey (https://forms.gle/u2dsdFBzV8WW5SNY7).
Please feel free to forward this e-mail to any other potential parties that may be interested in becoming part of Motus. A general summary of Motus is provided below.
Motus is an international collaborative research network that uses cooperative automated radio telemetry to track small flying organisms (birds, bats, and insects). The system enables the conservation science community to undertake cost-effective, impactful research and education on the ecology and conservation of hundreds of species simultaneously. Motus is a program of Birds Canada in collaboration with a wide network of researchers and organizations.
Motus collaborators deploy small radio transmitters that are detected by Motus stations placed at strategic locations throughout the landscape which can detect tags up to 20 km away. Depending on the configuration of a receiver array, tags can be monitored continuously, or as they occupy space monitored by other stations in the landscape. When many projects (tags and receivers) deployed by Motus collaborators are combined we collectively expand the scale and scope of everyone’s project while maximizing investments and data acquisition.
As of winter 2022, Motus collaborators maintain more than 1,200 stations in 31 countries. More than 400 projects have deployed over 30,000 tags on more than 250 species of birds, bats, and insects. These data have contributed to 130 academic publications covering a wide range of disciplines such as breeding and post-breeding dispersal, stopover and migration behavior, habitat use, and overwintering ecology.
Data collected by the system is revolutionizing our understanding of migratory animals and is being used in conservation planning for species and sites, status assessments and recovery plans for species at risk, environmental assessment and mitigation planning for development projects, and contributing to numerous continental conservation efforts.
Thank you for your time.
Please refer any questions to:
Motus recruitment assistant
Birds Canada | Oiseaux Canada
Stuart A. Mackenzie
Director of Strategic Assets
Birds Canada | Oiseaux Canada
PO Box 160, 115 Front Rd. Port Rowan, Ontario. N0E 1M0.
Office: (519)-586-3531 X 162 | Mobile:820-6040
smackenzie@birdscanada.org| birdscanada.org |motus.org|birdscanada.org/lpbo
