HumTrack
An international program comprised of expert researchers working in concert to study hummingbird movement and migration using cutting edge technology.
*All banding is being conducted under federally authorized Bird Banding Permits issued by the U.S. Geological Survey's BBL.
Our collaborators are currently working with the following species
What's the goal and why is this important?
Objectives and questions:
Determine migration connectivity.
a. Deploying transmitters on known wintering and breeding grounds during their respective seasons i.e. before the onset of migration.
- Timing of the onset of migration
Q1: What are the demographic differences in departure time?
Q2: What are the environmental cues that could play a role in departure date/time?
​
- Migration
Q1: Does where you breed (lat, long) dictate how you migrate? (Directionality, distance, duration, and stopover ecology)
​
- Stopover sites
Q1: Where are stopover sites?
Q2: What is the estimated size of stopover ranges?
​
- Characterizing land cover and habitat types
Q1: How are habitats utilized?
Q2: Identify backyards that are being utilized and what is their composition?
​
b. Establish genoscape from feather samples taken on breeding and wintering ranges for migration connectivity.
Q1: Are there genetically distinct populations across the breeding ranges for hummingbird species?
Q2: Do the genoscapes agree or disagree with analyses from stable isotope research (i.e.do we get the same results from each or is one better at determining breeding and wintering territory?)
Q3: Do hummingbirds exhibit migratory connectivity patterns and if so, to what degree (i.e. does where you breed dictate where you winter)?​​​
HumTrack Program Directors
Kyle Shepard
BCA
Emma Rhodes
BCA
David La Puma
CTT
Michael Lanzone
CTT
Collaborators
Mexico HumTrack
- Dr. Sarahy Contreras Martínez
University of Guadalajara’s CUCSUR campus​
​
Idaho HumTrack
- Carl Rudeen
Spatial Informatics Group
​
Alaska HumTrack
- Todd Eskelin
USFWS
​​
Colorado HumTrack
- Dr. Mary Stoddard
Princeton University
- Amanda Carpenter
Bird Genoscape Project
Colorado State University
​​
Indiana HumTrack
- Dr. Lina Rifai
Indiana University Kokomo
​
Texas HumTrack
- Dr. Rebecca Bracken
Gulf Coast Bird Observatory
​
Tennessee HumTrack
- Mark Myers
Banding Coalition of the Americas
Costa Rica HumTrack
- Ernesto Carmen
​
New Jersey HumTrack
- Dr. David La Puma
Cellular Tracking Technologies
- Michael Lanzone
Cellular Tracking Technologies
- Dr. Sean Burcher
Cellular Tracking Technologies
- Phoebe Lanzone
​
Virginia HumTrack​
- Dr. Mary Stoddard
Princeton University ​
​
Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia,
Florida, and Kentucky HumTracks
- Dr. Emma Rhodes
Banding Coalition of the Americas
- Kyle Shepard
Banding Coalition of the Americas
​​
Utah HumTrack
- Natasha Hadden
U.S. Forest Service (USDA)
- Lisa Young
U.S. Forest Service (USDA)
"Mary"
Female Black-chinned Hummingbird feeding nestlings and sitting.
Transmitter ID: EACD7393
FAQ
Why are you doing this?
Humtrack is designed to help better understand hummingbird movement and behavior to better the conservation plan for hummingbird species. If we know where they are going, where they spend most of their time, what habitats they are using, what resources are available in their preferred location, and when they are arriving and leaving certain areas, we can conserve crucial habitat necessary to their survival.
​
Do the transmitters stay on forever?
No. These transmitters are only glued to a small patch of feathers using extremely strict standardized protocols. On average, the transmitter will stay on for 30-60 days before the individual preens it off. If the individual leaves the transmitter alone and only preens around it, it will still come off during the individual's next molt in the fall.
​
How heavy are the transmitters? Does it weigh them down?
The BlūMorpho transmitters we use weight between 0.058 and 0.060 grams or about a grain of rice. That being said, hummingbirds are light weight as well and we have protocols for making sure it is not too heavy. We as researchers are limited to attachment weights of 3% or less of a birds lean body mass (no fat which is normal during the breeding and winter season). This includes the weight of the band, transmitter, and glue.
For the initial deployments, telemetered individuals were placed in a "flight aviary" and observed by experts in hummingbird behavior who were looking for any behavioral anomalies or change in the ability to fly. The success of these flight aviary tests were enough to justify trial on wild individuals. Since the first deployment, all telemetered individuals displayed normal flight behavior after release without any noticeable change in their behavior. However, with each new study, we continue to observe these birds from a distance as best we can for as long as we can. Check out the above and below videos of hummingbirds with transmitters incubating, feeding nestlings, and feeding at feeders.
What about banding? Is this better?
The telemetered individuals (the ones with transmitters) are also banded under federal Bird Banding Permits issued by the U.S. Geological Survey's Bird Banding Laboratory (BBL) (in the US). We band telemetered individuals so we (and the BBL) have a record of everything involving each individual. For instance, after a hummingbird drops its transmitter, the band is the only way of knowing who that bird is. Banding is still incredibly important to this process.
That being said, instead of having to recapture a banded bird numerous times throughout a season (which is difficult and can be disruptive) transmitters allow us to document an individual's behavior from a distance while it moves through the environment naturally. One study conduced in Idaho by BCA received 2.3 million detections from transmitters on 31 individuals. That's equivalent to recapturing each individual over 74,000 times across 30 different locations in a 1200 acre study area without ever having to catch a bird twice.
​
Can anyone do this?
NO! This research is strictly regulated both by federal and state entities! Only permitted persons with the proper experience and expertise are allowed to do this kind of research.
​
How do I see where these birds are?
As of November 2025, we do not have a way to give you live updates. We are working on an app that you can use to both detect telemetered hummingbirds as well as see where they last pinged. This is a difficult undertaking though so it will take some time. This page, as well as the BCA Facebook page will have the relevant information when it is finished.
​
​
"Wildflower"
Female Black-chinned Hummingbird incubating eggs. Transmitter ID: 4FBFEFC4
Black-chinned Hummingbird with a transmitter maintaining his feeder superiority.
Are you a hummingbird bander that wants to be a part of HumTrack?
Here's the process:
You must be a permitted hummingbird bander and be able to contribute to the outlined objectives of HumTrack.
-
Apply to be involved. In the application, identify how you can contribute to HumTrack’s objectives.
-
HumTrack Program Directors will review your application and if accepted, you will be emailed further documentation (Memorandum of Understanding, Authorship SOP, Data Collection Protocol and Acknowledgement of Understanding).
-
You must read this documentation in its entirety. If you can fulfill the data requirements of HumTrack, please sign the Acknowledgement of Understanding
-
After that, you'll be added to the HumTrack database on Epicollect, our Slack channel and be granted access to the Glue-on Attachment Guide and How-to Guide to Epicollect.