Avian Roundtable

In addition to our monthly GMI bird walks the July walk will include a roundtable discussion of the following topics that should be of interest to fellow birders:

• Results of our inaugural Blue Bird trail. Jim Moffett organized a work party to build and install a dozen Blue Bird boxes this Spring. Our dedicated volunteers, Dave and Joanne Karkosak, are doing weekly surveys of the nest activity which will be reviewed.
• Mike Coulter has been using GMI’s SM-4 SongMeter to record bird songs in various parts of the Great Marsh. Mike will discuss his results so far and future plans. One of which is to apply for a grant from WildLife acoustics for a number of these devices to further studies of bird songs and the effect of Pa Turnpike noise on their activity.
• Folks from Willistown Conservation Trust will provide an overview of the MOTUS project. The Motus Wildlife Tracking System is a collaborative research network that uses coordinated automated radio telemetry arrays to study movements of small animals.
• WCT has received a major grant to build and deploy approximately 40 automated receivers in PA, Delaware and Maryland.
• GMI has been providing technical support to the MOTUS project. Jim Moore will do a tour of our MOTUS test antenna farm and provide some results of our tag testing.

Please contact GMI’s Program director, Lori Moore at 503-544-3868 or Loritmoore46@gmail.com if you plan to attend. Please check in at the Nature Center when you arrive.