Hermit Thrush Study
November 12, 2008
Radio-transmitters have no harmful effects when affixed to hermit thrushes.
Scientists often want to track birds to find out exactly where they go. But this is usually difficult, since birds are rather mobile and often fly away or hide in dense vegetation when scientists get too close.
Since they can’t track them on foot, scientists can attach radio-transmitters to birds so they monitor the bird’s movements 24/7 without unduly disturbing them. Although modern transmitters are amazingly small and light (some weighing as little as 0.35 grams), some worry that the cumulative effect of carrying the extra weight might hurt the birds.
Given the body size of the birds involved, the weight of the transmitter is about the same as a 200-pound man carrying a 5-pound backpack.
To see what the effect of carrying a radio-transmitter might be, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center scientists studied hermit thrushes (Catharus guttatus) in South Carolina in the winter of 2006/2007.
In the pictures below, you can see a radio transmitter on the back of a hermit thrush (left) and the antenna sticking out beyond the tail (right).
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To measure the birds’ stress levels, scientists drew blood both from birds with transmitters and from those without for a period of 1 month. By comparing the heterphil to lymphocyte ratios, the scientists determined that birds with transmitters were no more stressed than birds without.
