New monitoring towers in Labrador are strictly for the birds — and their migration patterns

The Nunatsiavut government has a new tool to help monitor the birds that pass through Labrador's skies: radio towers are being set up in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, North West River and along the coast.

Michelle Saunders, the Nunatsiavut government's research manager, says it's important to understand where the birds Labradorans hunt and eat are coming from.

"With climate change you're seeing more songbirds, different kinds of birds coming into our region. So we'd like to understand more of what's happening in our environment," she said.

Environment and Climate Change Canada funds the towers and Birds Canada operates and maintains them. There are more than 2,000 towers set up throughout Canada and worldwide, but these mark the first installed in Labrador. The system can also monitor insects and bats, but Birds Canada is focused only on birds in Nunatsiavut.

Saunders said the data can help them understand and manage the waterfowl population, but also understand what other birds are coming into the region as the climate changes.

In Nunatsiavut, Birds Canada is keeping an ear out for geese, bank swallows and other migratory birds.

Lucas Berrigan, Bird's Canada's Atlantic region program co-ordinator and the system's technical co-ordinator, said the tracking is important because birds spend only one-third of their lives migrating but 80 per cent of bird deaths happen during migration. 

"But we don't really know where birds go," Berrigan said. "To be able to conserve birds effectively, we need to know where they're spending that time and where they move."

The towers work by using radio waves, which can connect to small radio transmitters that are attached to birds. 

The transmitters — one of three sizes, depending on how much weight the bird, bat or insect can carry — are sutured onto the animal's back but the the stitches dissolve over time so the animal doesn't carry it around forever, Berrigan said. 

The smallest is a battery transmitter that can last up to several years and fit on butterflies and bumblebees, Berrigan said. There are larger ones with solar panels for birds and batteries for bats, and one with a solar panel and battery that can be used for larger birds, he said. 

The transmitters's signals will then be picked up by towers within 15 to 20 kilometres, Berrigan said.

"It's really helpful because it lets us answer these really fundamental questions about bird movement, about movement and insects just not only like their migration, but also where they're stopping and where they're spending most of their time," Berrigan said. 

With the next two towers set to be installed near Rigolet and Hopedale, Berrigan hopes it's the beginning of an expansion throughout Canada's North. Saunders hopes to see the towers installed near every Nunatsiavut community along Labrador's north coast.