We are happy to share the 2025 annual Iowa Motus report. The Motus Wildlife Tracking System is a collaborative global network of automated radio telemetry receivers for tracking small migratory wildlife that have been tagged.

2025 ended with 42 Motus stations across the state of Iowa which recorded 314 detections of 179 individuals from 20 bird species and one bat species over the year.

Birds and bats detected in Iowa were from 34 different research projects from across the Americas. The top three most detected species in 2025 were Wood Thrush (94 individuals), Swainson’s Thrush (19 individuals), and Semipalmated Sandpiper (10 individuals).

The Iowa’s Motus Wildlife Tracking Network 2025 Annual Report includes updates on the wood thrush tagging project and station-specific detection summaries.

Below are the 2025 counts for the station at Mines of Spain in Dubuque, Iowa:

To see what has been detected most recently at this station, use the following link: Mines of Spain Motus Station.