One summer night three years ago, a chimney swift flitted over the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area, where a scraggly-looking antenna sensed a radio frequency pulse given off by a transmitter no heavier than a grain of rice tucked into the bird’s feathers.
The chattering bird had set wing from Colombia, South America, several days before. In a few more days, it was in Saint-Jean-Baptiste, Quebec, the destination of its migration journey.
The bird had traveled 2,108 miles in a week, at an average speed of 12 miles per hour…