The GPS units allow researchers to track not only the start and ending locations, but all the points along the migration path.
Wildlife researcher, Roland Kays’ is part of a team of biologists featured recently in a video on UntamedScience.com.
The video, shot at the Pine Island Sanctuary and Audubon Center in Corolla, NC, highlights bird migration research methods.
From UntamedScience.com:
“Everyone knows that birds migrate north in the spring and south in the fall. It seems like common knowledge now but how do we know that? Truth is, we know it because scientists have been studying migration. Yet, it’s not as simple as it might seem.
In the past, migration studies have either been a result of seeing birds show up in new areas, or putting little tags on a bird’s foot and finding it later in other places. But now, we have the ability to put satellite tags on migrating birds.
In this weekly, we follow a small group of biologists to see what it’s really like to study a problem like this in the field.”