The Motus tower that Black Hills Audubon erected in Hoodsport has detected its first radio transmitter tag! On March 23rd, at about 5 a.m., a Dunlin was recorded in the area of the tower. This bird was outfitted with its tag on November 11, 2024 in Tomales Bay, CA. Since it hasn’t been detected again on March 24th (the date this article was written), this bird probably just flew by without stopping to refuel.
You can review the data here (drill down on the map to Hoodsport, WA):
In other good news, Black Hills Audubon will be gifting our tower to the Washington Dept of Fish and Wildlife soon. Instead of paying insurance on the tower as required by the state hatchery, we will explore the option of using those funds to put up another Motus tower.
Photo credit: Dunlin, by Rachel Hudson.
