What if a robin-sized bird just flew 1,700 miles in 48 hours — and Iowa was a critical stop along the way?

That's not a hypothetical. It happened. And we only know because of the Motus Wildlife Tracking Network.

In this episode, Chris sits down with Anna Buckardt Thomas, avian ecologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Diversity Program, to dig into one of the coolest conservation science stories happening right now. Anna initiated the Motus network in Iowa, growing it from eight stations in 2021 to more than 40 — and the data coming out of it is rewriting what we thought we knew about bird migration.

Motus is a continent-spanning, collaborative radio telemetry system operated by Birds Canada. Researchers across the hemisphere tag wildlife on a shared frequency, and a network of receiver stations picks up those signals and feeds them into an open-source database. The result: for the first time, we can follow the individual journey of a Lesser Yellowlegs from Colombia to the Arctic and back, or watch a Wood Thrush return to the exact same Iowa woodlot two years running.

Key takeaways:

• What the Motus system is and why it's a game-changer for understanding small birds and bats that can't carry GPS units.
• Why Iowa matters at a continental scale: nearly a billion birds fly through the state each fall migration season.
• The Lesser Yellowlegs that traveled 1,700 miles in 48 hours — clocked at 100 mph between an Iowa station and the Mississippi River.
• A Tree Swallow that stopped over near Waubonsie State Park for 30 days fueling up before continuing south.
• Iowa's Wood Thrush tagging project: 14 of 15 tagged birds returned to the same exact Iowa territory the following spring.
• How Anna pitched the program internally by anchoring the ask to data that already showed Iowa's migratory importance.
• The education opportunity for parks and nature centers — and how Des Moines County Conservation is getting its own station at Big Hollow Recreation Area.
• What to do with all of this: plant native species, tell the stories, and give people concrete actions.

We often talk on this show about leading with vision and building on existing organizational strengths. Anna's approach to growing the Iowa Motus network is a masterclass in exactly that — she didn't start from scratch, she started with a billion data points on a radar map and said, we need to understand what's happening here. The rest built itself.

Explore the data yourself: motus.org — click on Explore Data, find Iowa stations, and go down the wormhole. You've been warned.

Connect with Anna: Search "Anna Buckardt Thomas Iowa DNR" to find her contact info on the DNR website.

About Parks & Restoration

Parks & Restoration is the show for parks and natural resource professionals who want to be better leaders for their organizations, communities, and the lands and waters they steward. Every other Tuesday, Chris Lee shares practical strategies — grounded in ecology and culture-building — to help you become the leader your team needs.

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