The miniscule monitor helped confirm a long-suspected theory about the warbler. As it turns out, the bird flies roughly 1,600 miles non-stop across the Atlantic, from the northeastern US to the Caribbean -- no mean feat when it has to stay airborne for as long as three days. That would have been nearly impossible to know using radar or on-the-ground observers. As such, technology like this might just fill in a lot of gaps in nature studies and help us humans both understand and protect smaller animals.

[Image credit: Vermont Center for Ecostudies]