The UNC Charlotte Motus Tower was installed in June 2025 by Dr. Sara Gagné, several of her students, UNC Charlotte Facilities staff, and staff from the Cape Fear Bird Observatory. It now sits on the roof of McEniry Hall with a clear 360-degree view of the sky, ready to receive notifications from tagged birds, bats, butterflies, and who knows what else.

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Motus (Latin for "movement") is an international collaborative research network — a program of Birds Canada in partnership with researchers and organizations around the world — that uses automated radio telemetry to track the movement and behavior of small flying animals. Researchers fit birds, bats, and even insects as small as bees and butterflies with tiny radio "backpack" transmitters weighing between 0.2 and 2.6 grams. As these tagged animals travel, a global network of receiver stations listens continuously for their radio pulses, logging the time, signal strength, and direction of each detection. A single station can typically pick up signals from about 15 km (~10 miles) away, depending on local topography and antenna configuration.

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Data from our tower will be integrated into the Motus network of more than 1,200 stations across 31 countries. Dr. Gagné's students will be drawing on data from our tower — and from other MOTUS stations across the hemisphere — for a variety of research projects on animal movement, migration timing, and behavior.