Wild Wings describes the annual migration of a female osprey from Scotland to Africa. The novel’s characters rely heavily on technology to track the bird through the various stages of her journey and the risks she faces along the way. Without the global reach provided by the internet, Iris’s story might have turned out quite differently. The novel captures the degree to which ornithologists rely on technology to give them insights into the behavior of migratory bird species.

During the 20th century, scientists banded birds (added bands with numbers to identify them) and tracked them along their migration paths by capturing and releasing them to record data. Using this information, ornithologists created rough maps of the migratory routes that birds followed. They later enhanced their data by using radar at airports to understand how weather might affect the timing of migrations and the altitude at which birds were required to fly. Their observations were still local or regional, and sharing information with other scientists in the field was laborious.

The internet revolutionized the amount of data that could be collected and shared across continents. The Motus Network is a global data source that currently shares 1500 receivers in 31 countries with new data points being added all the time.