On Feb. 9 the tagged robin was sensed around 1030AM and 2PM our time. On Feb. 10 the bird was “seen” around 830AM. No overnight signals–that leads me to believe the bird is either going to an out-of-line-of-sight communal roost, or going into a dense conifer to sleep. Right now the fields at Ankeny NWR are feeding thousands of robins, Killdeer, geese, dabbling ducks, starlings, blackbirds and other ground feeding birds. Our tagged bird is hardly alone.
If you are just joining us–this bird was tagged last October near Vancouver, BC. It was first confirmed at Ankeny of Jan. 10 at 1PM our time. The chart below is in modern version of Greenwich Mean Time, seven hours ahead of our time zone right now.
The Motus tower at Ankeny is the first in the Willamette Valley north of Eugene. It was paid for by Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife (ODFW). ODFW made a grant for this project to Salem Audubon Society (SAS). We at SAS had a lot of help from supportive biologists and Motus pros. The US Fish and Wildlife Service that manages Ankeny NWR was welcoming to the tower project and did a lot of the crucial work: small cement platform, protective fence, trench for cables, electricity and internet connection. We got the tower up and working last fall. Soon we had a passing dunlin…then nothing until “our” robin arrived.
Soon we hope to place some relay pods that will extend the tower’s “view” beyond the nearby Nature Center and past some hilltops into valleys beyond.
Last year a Motus tower was installed at Ladd Marsh on northeastern Oregon. Click here for video of that.
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