Concealed behind trees near Lake Michigan, two scientists remotely manipulated a robotic owl on the forest floor. As the intruder flapped its wings and hooted, a merlin guarding its nest in a nearby pine darted overhead, sounding high-pitched, rapid-fire distress calls.
The small falcon dove toward the enemy — and into a net that Smithsonian interns Tim Baerwald and Zachary Bordner had stretched between steel poles. They gently disentangled the brownish-speckled merlin, then attached a leg band and a backpack transmission unit so researchers could trace the mother bird's movements.
