How tracking towers are helping save Canada's at-risk wildlife

National Observer

26-06-2025

Each year, Canadian conservationists release dozens of young Eastern loggerhead shrikes into the wild, hoping to reverse the decline of one of the country's most endangered songbirds.
Once common across eastern Canada — in Ontario, Quebec and part of the Maritimes — these sharp-beaked predators are now found only in two small pockets of southern Ontario.
Their steep decline since the 1990s has been linked to habitat loss, land-use changes, pesticide exposure and threats along their migration route.
Despite years of captive breeding and habitat restoration, many of the birds vanish after migrating south and never return. Scientists have long been left wondering: Are the birds dying en route? Straying off course? Or facing threats on their southern US wintering grounds that Canadian efforts couldn't fix?
Now, a growing network of towers — the Motus Wildlife Tracking System — may finally offer answers.
'This is how we close the loop,' said Martin Smith, professor in Niagara College's school of environment and horticulture. 'We know what's happening here in Canada. What we need is insight into what's happening after they leave.'
Niagara College is now part of that effort. The school recently installed its third Motus tower, adding to a network of more than 2,100 across the Americas. Named after the Latin word for 'movement,' Motus is a radio telemetry station that detects signals from tagged migratory animals.
Niagara College recently installed its third Motus tower as part of an effort to protect the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike. Named after the Latin word for 'movement,' Motus is a radio telemetry station that tracks tagged migratory animals.
Located between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, the Niagara College towers sit along a major migratory route, allowing Smith and his team to track tagged birds as they pass within a 15-kilometre range.
Each tower consists of one or more antennas connected to a weatherproof box containing a radio receiver and a small onboard computer.
All that's needed is a power source and internet connection. The system runs automatically — uploading data to Birds Canada's central database, where researchers across the continent can access and analyze the information.
Smith said the bird tags are tiny radio transmitters, light enough to not affect the animals' movement. Each one emits a unique signal, like a bird's personal ID number, and costs around $500. Towers typically cost $6,000 to $8,000 to install, depending on materials and location.
Smith said there are some bird species that are clearly in trouble. 'We've been tracking their numbers and discovering that some species have been declining — in some cases, very abruptly,' he said. 'We can use the data to see where birds were flying, how long it took them to go from station to station, whether they stopped to rest, and how many disappeared or got lost.'
He described each tower as a piece of a larger puzzle. It's only by combining data from hundreds of towers across the network that researchers can begin to see the full picture. If birds don't make it to known overwintering areas like Kansas or Oklahoma — or if they arrive but don't survive — conservation efforts may need to shift focus beyond Canada's borders.
Smith said Motus is already reshaping how researchers understand other at-risk birds. Whip-poor-wills, for example, were tracked flying nonstop from Ontario to Central America — showing they don't depend on rest stops.
But others, like certain thrushes and warblers, do rely on stopover sites. If those areas are lost to development or deforestation, even well-managed breeding grounds won't be enough to protect them.
The Niagara College towers aren't just gathering vital data — they're training the next generation of conservation scientists, Smith said. Students help with everything from installation and maintenance to data interpretation and research proposals.
According to Stu Mackenzie, director of strategic assets at Birds Canada, the Motus network has expanded from just a few dozen towers in 2015 to about 300 across Canada today. With hundreds more planned in the next five years, the system has already tracked more than 450 species, including birds, bats and even butterflies.
As the network grows, more schools, community groups and private companies are pitching in — hosting towers and contributing to research, he added.
Birds Canada and its university partners recently secured more than $3.1 million in federal funding to support Motus' expansion across Canada and elsewhere in the hemisphere.
And the need has never been greater. Since 1970, North America has lost nearly three billion birds — almost one in three. Many of the hardest-hit species are long-distance migrants like grassland birds, shorebirds and aerial insectivores. Smith says while habitat loss, climate change and pesticides are all factors, targeted conservation is nearly impossible without solid tracking data.
At Niagara College, the Motus towers were made possible through a mix of funding and community support — with contributions from the RBC Foundation, the Niagara Community Foundation, the Niagara Falls Nature Club, the World Wildlife Fund and student-led fundraising efforts.
As Smith sees it, every tower brings science one step closer to solving the mystery — and saving the species that depend on it.