Center for Birds of Prey’s First Motus Visitor is a Bird of Prey

In January, the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey became part of a global network for tracking bird migration with the installation of a Motus station on our property. As spring migration approached, we awaited the first “ping” of a bird passing within the range of our station, and on April 3, it happened: an American Kestrel — the smallest falcon species in North America — became the first radio-tagged bird to pass within the station’s range.

Motus, a program of Birds Canada in partnership with Audubon, is an international collaborative research network that uses radio telemetry to track the movement and behavior of birds and other small animals, like bats and insects. There are around three dozen Motus stations across Florida, including one at Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples, recording any time a tagged animal passes within seven miles.

The kestrel, an adult male, was tagged in July 2024 as part of a research project called American Kestrel Massachusetts, led by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife and Mass Audubon. Motus data shows the kestrel migrating up and down the East Coast from Massachusetts to Florida each year. In both the 2024-25 and 2025-26 migration cycles, this individual’s southernmost ping has been recorded at Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge in Martin County, on the southeastern coast of Florida. Its last recorded movement there was on October 11, 2025.

The kestrel, an adult male, was tagged in July 2024 as part of a research project called American Kestrel Massachusetts, led by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife and Mass Audubon. Motus data shows the kestrel migrating up and down the East Coast from Massachusetts to Florida each year. In both the 2024-25 and 2025-26 migration cycles, this individual’s southernmost ping has been recorded at Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge in Martin County, on the southeastern coast of Florida. Its last recorded movement there was on October 11, 2025.

We don’t know where this kestrel spent its winter — there are several Motus stations south of the Hobe Sound location, in the Florida Keys, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Mexico, but none picked up the kestrel’s tracker from October through April. Thanks to the new station at the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey, we know that it began its spring migration journey in April 2026. It has not yet been picked up by another station on its journey north.

Studying migration can help scientists answer questions about species in decline and advocate for their conservation. The American Kestrel is experiencing a loss of nesting and feeding habitat across the country, and in Florida and several other states, they are a State-designated Threatened species. By tracking individual kestrels’ migration patterns, we can identify exactly which parts of our state are critical habitat for them and need protection the most.