Miniature radio transmitters can be fitted onto animals as small as songbirds to monitor their movements and populations, but traditional methods of tracking their signals can be challenging or limiting: either bushwhacking through thick forests or other rugged environments with a handheld antenna, or hoping they happen to pass by scattered radio towers that pick up their signals. For this groundbreaking project, we mounted an antenna-receiver system onto a drone and flew it out over the Montmorency Forest reserve in Quebec, conveniently locating the signals of radio-tagged Bicknell's thrushes without having to set foot in the bush.
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