Scientists in Kentucky testing use of tiny tags to track migrating hummingbirds

There's a special buzz around the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area every August, as hundreds of hummingbirds stop to fuel up on their way south for the winter.

Researchers with the nonprofit Southeastern Avian Research set up shop at the Woodlands Nature Station and two other LBL sites to catch and tag hummingbirds with remarkably small, solar-powered tags that are capable of tracking their movements and wirelessly transmitting the data back to the scientists. These tags, which were previously used to track the movements of monarch butterflies, weigh less than 0.06 grams – or about as much as a pinch of salt.

Cyndi Routledge, SEAR's founder and the project's lead researcher, said that the recent testing has shown that the tags have the potential to significantly contribute