SCIENCE
Adopt a Tag: Turning Movement Data into Conservation Action
Across the Pacific Northwest, Klamath Bird Observatory uses innovative tracking technology to uncover the full annual cycles of some of our most vulnerable and least‑understood birds. Until recently, conservation scientists had limited information about where many species traveled, how they used habitat throughout the year, or what challenges they faced during migration.
Tags are changing that.
By sponsoring a tag, you help put cutting‑edge tools, GPS, Motus, and other tracking devices into the field. These tags provide detailed information about movement, habitat use, survival, and migration timing. Each tag helps build a clearer picture of how birds navigate a rapidly changing world and what they need to thrive.
Your gift supports the science that guides conservation action across species, landscapes, and seasons.
Why Tags? Why Now?
The heart of this program is the technology itself. Tags allow researchers to follow birds across continents, revealing where they travel, how they use habitat, and what pressures they encounter along the way. Different tags serve different purposes: archival GPS tags record precise locations throughout migration, Motus tags are less precise but much lighter and can track local and long-distance movements through an international telemetry network, and satellite GPS tags transmit data remotely across vast distances.
Because many tags must be recovered to download their data, each recaptured bird becomes a scientific treasure. Every tag deployed and every tag returned adds to a growing body of knowledge that shapes conservation across the Western Hemisphere.
Western Purple Martins
Western Purple Martins are among the rarest aerial insectivores in the Pacific Northwest. KBO’s long‑term banding and tagging work at Fern Ridge Reservoir has revealed a nearly 7,000‑mile migration to southeastern Brazil and previously unknown critical stopover sites. Each recovered tag provides up to a year’s worth of movement data that helps guide conservation action across continents.
Learn more about KBO’s work with Western Purple Martins.
Explore a previously tracked Western Purple Martin’s journey in On the Wings of Roxa (YouTube video).
Oregon Vesper Sparrows
The Oregon Vesper Sparrow is one of the most imperiled songbirds in the region. KBO’s research includes GPS tagging of adults in the Rogue Basin and Willamette Valley, Motus LifeTag tracking of fledglings at Vesper Meadow, and a multi‑year study of nest success, survival, and dispersal. A growing Motus network now detects tagged birds across the West, offering new insight into migration routes, overwintering areas, and the challenges these birds face throughout the year.
Your support fuels discoveries essential to protecting this subspecies and informing Endangered Species Act decision‑making.
Learn more about KBO’s work with the Oregon Vesper Sparrow.
Explore Oregon Vesper Sparrows journey from their breeding grounds in Gram, Po, and Affy’s Journey to their Wintering Grounds (YouTube video).