We were excited when JD Arnston reported that we had our first detection on our Goose Pond Sanctuary Motus bird tracking tower in May. We erected our Motus tower last year and when activated we later learned that we are covering an area of about 20 miles from east to west. We did not anticipate any or few detections since COVID-19 resulted in fewer people tagging birds in 2020, and we also found out that we had a wiring problem that was quickly fixed by volunteer Chip Plummer.
Air photo of our motus detection area.
The Motus tracking system began by Birds Canada about seven years ago and is racking up impressive numbers: 4 continents, 31 countries, 1,175 Motus receiving stations, 251 species tagged, 28,313 animals tagged, 412 projects, 1,080 patterns and collaborators, and 120 publications based on Motus data.
Motus transmitter for rails, photo by Auriel Fournier / Forbes Biological Station
We were very surprised to learn that the first bird detected was a Sora Rail and were interested in learning more about this bird and the project. Sora are a very interesting species. We wrote a 2019 Friday Feathered Feature on them. We have flushed Soras in wetlands and a few times in fall in our restored prairies. They appear to be very weak fliers and have never seen a Sora flying that was not flushed.
Sora #32853 was tagged on May 17, 2021 by the Illinois Natural History Survey at The Nature Conservancy Emiquon Preserve (Preserve) near Havana Illinois under Stephanie’s Marsh Birds project directed by Auriel Founier, Waterfowl Ecologist and Director of the Forbes Biological Station at Havana. Graham was impressed with the size and scope of the restoration when he visited the Biological Station to help band Lesser Scaup.
Sora #32853, photo by Auriel Fournier / Forbes Biological Station
At more than 6,000 acres, Emiquon is one of the largest floodplain restoration projects in the Midwest. It is the premiere demonstration site for The Nature Conservancy’s work on the Illinois River and within the Upper Mississippi River system and ultimately will help guide large floodplain river restoration efforts around the world. The site has been designated a wetland of international importance by Ramsar.
Sora and Virginia Rail are webless migratory gamebirds that primarily spend time in Illinois during migration, though a limited number breed in the state. Both the Upper Mississippi River and Great Lakes Joint Venture and US Fish and Wildlife Service Webless Migratory Bird Program prioritize research into the life history of Sora and Virginia Rail, with long term priorities of estimating survival across and among seasons. Before that can be determined, fundamental information about the migratory timing and stopover duration is needed.
Virginia rail waiting a transmitter, photo by Auriel Fournier / Forbes Biological Station
Rail tagging in 2021 at the Preserve was a pilot project that is looking at determining the spring migration chronology and the spring stopover duration of Sora and Virginia Rails in the The Illinois River Valley. Soras are found in spring and fall migration at the Emiquon Preserve and Virginia Rails are only found in spring. Their goal is to attach 200 Motus tags to Sora and Virginia rails in early spring of 2022 and 2023.
Stephanie’s Marsh Birds project table of species tagged and tracked in 2021.
This spring they tagged 11 Soras and 16 Virginia Rails with Motus transmitters that last 14 months. Four Soras and five Virginia Rails have been recorded at Motus towers in addition to the detections at the five towers at the Preserve. The soras were last detected in Vermont, and three in eastern Canada. Virginia Rails were last detected near Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Winnipeg, and two in northeast Canada. Many birds were found to the east where the majority of the Motus towers are located.
It appears that Sora # 32853 is probably spending the summer in eastern Canada.
Motus Map (air photo) showing data points for Sora #32853. Note that the circles are Motus towers.
Sora #32853 moved 209 miles from the Preserve north to Goose Pond and three days later was detected 600 miles to the east along the north shore of Lake Ontario. We assume the bird flew over Lake Michigan. The last detection was 80 miles north of Toronto near Gravenhurst, Ontario.
Sora #32853 locations detected. NOTE: Birds could have been detected in migration before sunrise and after sunset on the same day.
We hope that more rails will be detected in the future by our Motus tower from Auriel’s research project. Madison Audubon is glad to play a small part in learning more about two members of the secretive rail family.
Thanks to everyone involved with the tower project including Don Schmidt that coordinated other volunteers to erect the tower, Curt and Arlys Caslavka and the Dutton Foundation for providing funds, and JD Arnston for computer support. Also thanks to Auriel Fournier for providing us with information and photos.
Written by Mark Martin and Susan Foote-Martin, Goose Pond Sanctuary resident managers; Graham Steinhauer, land steward
Cover photo by Auriel Fournier / Forbes Biological Station
