The perfect first visitor to the Center's new Motus Station arrived in early April. 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.…