Wildlife tracking technologies have already massively advanced our understanding of the natural world, from uncovering previously mysterious migration patterns and key movement corridors to demonstrating the impacts of anthropogenic pressures and climate change. Recent advances in the development of technologies for collecting and transmitting biologging data have unlocked the potential for fine-scale data collection at a near-global scale, which when integrated with remotely sensed environmental data offers an unprecedented biological lens into ecosystem health and environmental change (Jetz et al. 2022).
New technologies on the horizon include small satellites like CubeSats, which are being investigated by NASA, the ICARUS Initiative's satellite system, and a variety of other ventures aiming to improve the coverage, accuracy, and capacity of wildlife tracking data collection. Combined with the increased availability of high-resolution environmental data and analytical developments in movement modeling, these advancements are empowering movement ecologists to ask previously unanswerable or unimaginable questions. It’s clear that this discipline sits at the precipice of major breakthroughs that could revolutionize our understanding of animal movement and the natural world.
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- @HollyCormack
- | she/her
Biodiversity Knowledge Management Intern at the Biodiversity Consultancy Ltd
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- @capreolus
- | he/him
Capreolus e.U.
wildlife biologist with capreolus.at
- 1 Resources
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- @Edonga
- | He/His
Paul Edonga is from the Indigenous Pastoralist Tribes of Northern Kenya. A seasoned Leader in indigenous-led conservation of Endangered Beisa Oryx, African Small Antelopes their habitats & Dryland Forests. He's the founder of Save Beisa Oryx Community Resilience Trust-SBOC
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Woods Hole Group
Argos satellite system manager for North America
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Holder of BSc in Applied Zoology. Ecologist at Ruaha National park
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Aarhus University
Biologist and Research Technician working with ecosystem monitoring and research at Zackenberg Research Station in Greenland
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- @raquelgo
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- @evan21
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University of St Andrews
Final Year Biology & Geography Undergraduate at the University of St Andrews
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Noé
Hi! I am Aurélie, a dedicated French ornithologist and engineer specialized in conservation technologies. I am currently Program manager for the biodiversity of natural habitats' program in a French NGO called Noé.
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Worked as a mechanical engineer for a defence co, then software engineer, then for a research lab specialising in underwater robotics.
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- @carlybatist
- | she/her
Science Outreach Lead-Rainforest Connection (RFCx) & Arbimon; Ecoacoustics, biodiversity monitoring, primates, lemurs
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Article
The tracking system has begun testing its new satellite receiver that will continue uninterrupted tracking of animals from space
13 July 2023
Spaceborne Satellite-tag RF Systems to Measure Spatiotemporal Patterns of Wildlife
12 July 2023
In this article from Alasdair Davies, he discusses how marine tracking's unique challenges could impact its potential for sustainability in the future.
12 July 2023
In this Conservation Tech Showcase case study from Osa Conservation, you’ll learn about how technology is aiding their long-term efforts to prevent wildlife crime, protect critical species, and build a climate-adaptive...
22 June 2023
In this interview between Rob Appleby and Ellie Warren, we discuss the importance of DIY, recycling, and sharing tools in order to make our community more sustainable.
14 June 2023
Come work with us! WILDLABS and Fauna & Flora are seeking an intern to help develop the movement ecology content on the Inventory - our wiki-inspired database of conservation technology. Accepting applications until...
6 June 2023
The Innovation in Practice edition of Methods in Ecology and Evolution is still seeking proposals about conservation technology
6 March 2023
The Zoological Society of London, with the support of WILDLABS and the UK Space Agency, are proud to publish this new guide to satellite technologies for tracking wildlife.
17 February 2023
Researchers and conservationists are embarking on a bold initiative to save the world's most trafficked wild mammal — the pangolin
16 February 2023
As part of the AniMove eLearning programme, you are now able to stream 2022 Animal movement & remote sensing course lectures opensource.
10 February 2023
Are you stuck on an AI or ML challenge in your conservation work? Apply now for the chance to receive tailored expert advice from data scientists! Applications due 27th January 2023
18 January 2023
Discover how humans are working with animals – from dragonflies and ospreys to hedgehogs and jaguars – to improve our understanding of wildlife behaviour and numbers around the world, and how best to protect them.
16 January 2023
June 2024
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85 Products
Recently updated products
Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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Hello Some time ago I got involved with the development of a new type of wildlife tracker to help detect wildlife persecution of... |
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Biologging | 4 years 8 months ago | |
Hi Jay, Alastair, Small world! You've got a great resource at your doorstep then (c: Your idea of tracking the birds between known feeding locations is a good... |
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Biologging | 5 years 1 month ago | |
We're incredibly excited to kickstart the OpenCollar initiative. If you haven't seen it yet, check out opencollar.io ... |
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Biologging | 5 years 3 months ago | |
Thanks all, very useful links, some of them, like the orangutan nest mapping, wildfind, & sensorgnomes, I knew about, some not. Will have a poke :) |
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Biologging | 5 years 4 months ago | |
Hi everyone, If you're interested in examining the movement ecology of individuals in fragmented landscapes our new paper 'The... |
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Biologging | 5 years 5 months ago | |
Hello Mike I am not sure whether a datalogger would resolve radio noise problems. I would expect more success from improving the antenna/receiver circuitry to get rid of the... |
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Biologging | 5 years 6 months ago | |
Hi everyone, Folks might be interested in a webinar I’ll be hosting with colleagues at HeroX and NASA on our crowdsourcing... |
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Biologging | 5 years 7 months ago | |
Just to close this issue - I developed some iButtons and radio trackers which could be encased in medical safe epoxy and inserted into fruits for consumption by elephants.... |
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Biologging | 5 years 8 months ago | |
Microwave PTT's offer 5 free tags annually to early career reserachers. To find out more read the attached document and apply by 31st... |
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Biologging | 5 years 8 months ago | |
Thanks Steph, No write-up. This little experiment was squeezed into some actual work. Very happy to describe components if someone is interested. The balloon hobby... |
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Biologging | 5 years 8 months ago | |
Telemetry spanish paid online course from Spain https://ingeoexpert.com/cursos/curso-de-seguimiento-de-fauna-mediante-telemetria/?v=... |
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Biologging | 5 years 8 months ago | |
Results: When we picked them up after a month and a half in the field, the base-stations had worked perfectly for the whole time. The battery levels stayed fairly consistent at... |
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Biologging | 5 years 9 months ago |
VIHAR-2024 deadline extension, June 30th (Interspeech satellite event)
5 June 2024 10:30am
7 June 2024 8:29am
hi Alex!! I already posted the event, I just wanted to posted an update: the deadline was extended.
7 June 2024 1:45pm
Fantastic!!
How to add a salt water switch
28 February 2020 4:52pm
31 May 2024 5:27pm
Hey Ned,
If you want to add a transmitting component to your tag, let me know. I would happily provide the open-source Argos boards and some free satellite service time.
31 May 2024 6:43pm
Hi, @nedhorning, sounds fascinating! I'm going to listen in to hear how things progress, including with the capacitive sensor described in this thread. That sounds wise as it insulates the electronics.
Also wanted to mention that we use a comparator circuit following a reference design from TI that I can't find at the moment but probably could with more digging if desired. We described its basic design and use in a saltwater switch in this paper (open access) if you want to read a bit more.
6 June 2024 12:11pm
Hello @ThomasGray_Argos ,
I need to add transmitting component, so please provide me the list of these. Actually, I don't know much about it. I am interested in learning new things.
I am new here but a real enthusiast and loving this community so far. I have a background in technology and feel I could help with documentation, at least for starters. If you have any other question apart from this, you can ask. I will try my best to solve your problem.
New WildLabs Funding & Finance group
5 June 2024 3:24pm
5 June 2024 4:14pm
6 June 2024 1:38am
6 June 2024 4:16am
Wildlife Data and Technology Side Events at World Biodiversity Forum 2024
23 May 2024 9:16pm
Who's attending the World Biodiversity Forum in Davos?
20 May 2024 9:50pm
22 May 2024 8:29am
Sounds great.
At what day will you present your talk?
Greetings from Austria,
Robin
22 May 2024 5:39pm
We'll be presenting Wednesday morning as part of session 10.1b on "Integrating earth observations and biological tools in ecology and evolution to cogenerate knowledge towards meeting the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework targets." For the side events, we're planning tentatively for a social Monday evening (following the welcome Apéro) and a meeting Wednesday during or after lunch on leveraging animal movement to meet conservation/policy goals.
We'd love to see you!
Share Your Work in a Conservation Technology Video
17 May 2024 9:06pm
Fully-retrievable Satellite Tags for Seals?
10 April 2024 4:49pm
3 May 2024 8:08pm
Hi Courtney,
I haven't read through all the Wildlife computer options but I have heard of people using Zinc Anode disks as a type of slowly degrading attachment point for tags. We use these also as a backup for other types of releases on Oceanographic moorings etc. It would take some testing to see how the zinc could be attached or be small enough to degrade completely away from the pinniped but still be strong enough to hold a tag.....just some thoughts!
Cheers,
Stuart
7 May 2024 4:04pm
Honestly, no (at least not for wildlife applications).
I suspect for the manufacturing community it's a balancing act, and I am not confident that the manufacturing community has invested a lot of resources or effort to integrate sustainability in their tag designs specifically related to the materials. Reasons that come to mind are material durability and cost (both materials costs and cost to for R&D).
With that said, I think Stuart (below) makes a good suggestion...
14 May 2024 11:26am
We are ready to make efforts on materials, but today there are few solutions available. Today, our partners' R&D efforts are focused on renewable energies and the energy source's capacity. In the absence others solutions, and to take action, we have chosen to develop solutions to recover these tags, some of which are reusable (thanks to Gonio RXG-234 @ThomasGray). To date, thousands of tags have been recovered and some reused. This is the "upcycling" of science! It's a small step, but a great leap forward!
4th International Workshop onCamera Traps, AI, and Ecology
9 May 2024 1:00pm
Survey on European biodiversity monitoring communities
7 May 2024 3:39pm
Biodiversa+ is running a survey to map the European biodiversity monitoring landscape, identify opportunities for collaboration, and strengthen coordination for improved monitoring.
Acoustically Transparent Epoxy
26 April 2024 3:26pm
1 May 2024 5:35pm
Same issues here. A MEMS is a great idea to pot, but you really need a piezoelectric element for this to work and not a MEMS based on capacitance (btw they're all capacitance, except for one now discontinued...). It was originally made by Vesper, but the company was bought out last year and the MEMS is no longer made.
This is because you're no longer really doing a typical microphone, this would be a contact type hydrophone. For waterproofing, you can actually get a waterproof MEMS. As long as your not submerging this for an extended period, it should do the job. Be sure to keep the cable short between the PCB and the mic as you'll get noise as I've experienced.
For generally answering your question on the "best" epoxy to with sound transparency, in general the harder the material the lower the acoustic impedance. I use Epotec 301 resin with a hardness of 85. Your shape will also influence the resonance frequencies, meaning the flat frequency response will now be distorted and you'll probably have distorted audio. .
3 May 2024 1:25am
You generally don't want to pot MEMS microphones since they're designed to pick up on air pressure changes and adding any material in front of the microphone just introduces another transition layer where pressure waves need to propagate through. Also, potting the MEMS microphone can be tricky since if you get any material in the port, you could damage the microphone or drastically reduce its performance. If you want to seal something with epoxy, take a look at contact microphones. Higher frequencies will be attenuated but depending on the application, it could work.
There are companies, however, that design fabrics that are waterproof/resistant but have a relatively low acoustic impedance. SAATI has a variety of samples that you can request and GORE makes Acoustic Vents that could work. You can design a mechanical housing around your MEMS microphone with small perforations that are covered by one of these materials. I did this for one of my latest projects and it holds up just fine in heavy rain conditions.
3 May 2024 5:34pm
Hi Jesse,
For a material to be acoustically transparent (in air), the speed of sound in the material times its density must match that of air. Realistically, any solid material will have a greater density than air, and a higher speed of sound to boot, so I'm afraid there's no way to match it to air. Sorry.
WILDLABS AWARDS 2024 - Underwater Passive Acoustic Monitoring (UPAM) for threatened Andean water frogs
30 March 2024 3:54pm
5 April 2024 12:13pm
Congratulations, very exciting! Keep us updated!
7 April 2024 6:09pm
This is so cool @Mauricio_Akmentins - congrats and look forward to seeing your project evolve!
1 May 2024 5:17pm
Congratulations! My first hydromoth was just arrived yesterday and so excited! Looking forward for the update from your project!!!
The Inventory User Guide
1 May 2024 12:46pm
Introducing The Inventory!
1 May 2024 12:46pm
2 May 2024 3:08pm
3 May 2024 5:33pm
17 May 2024 7:29am
Program Manager: Integrating movement and camera trap data with international conservation policy
22 April 2024 10:16pm
Postdoc: Biologging & Camera Trap Data Integration
22 April 2024 10:10pm
Waterproofing DIY VHF transmitter
27 March 2024 8:57am
21 April 2024 9:27am
That's my kinda crazy @Rob_Appleby. Reminds my of a concept from my last job where they were trying to create strain gauge power meters that customers could self apply to their bikes. Normally this process was done in factory using special CA glue cured in 50-90c ovens. For the self applying version they were experimenting with an adhesive that had tiny metal beads in it that would heat up when a current was applied to self cure if I remember correctly.
22 April 2024 2:44pm
Now I want to be able to drop it from a drone and have it glue itself to the fur of a deer or wild hog. I am designing that now, it will have a detachable lawn dart that drops from a drone and lands on a target animal. That lawn dart delivers the payload, either a tracker or a dose of contraceptives. Then the drone comes and picks up the lawn dart again for reloading.
So the lawn dart has a small compressed air cylinder and some pneumatic style switches. When it touches down the switch actuates and the compressed air energy is used to deliver a dose of drugs and or spray some glue and ink. That can be reloaded with a bike pump and hypodermic.
22 April 2024 2:51pm
I am working on that too haha. So in my design you load the glue gun with two part Loctite, it has two separate metal rings. Glue and hardener in each ring. Then each ring has a few tiny holes drilled, and you fill the holes with a disposable plug.
When the switch is actuated the pressure inside the metals rings goes from atm to 100kPa, and sprays the glue and hardener together as the plugs blow out. The transmitter is attached to the plugs, so it is left behind and glued in place with one switch. That loctite glue is basically instant. The whole thing would not even be that traumatic to the animal. When you score a hit, you find the lawn dart glue gun again and pick it up with the drone.
IgotU
29 February 2024 2:12pm
15 March 2024 1:01pm
Fantastic Nigel! Bummer to hear that production has stopped, but glad you are getting their remaining boards! I know where to come when I need some!
Cheers,
Rob
22 March 2024 12:32pm
I have couple of good use cases for this model in a conservation project here in Cambodia however limited by lack of funding. Would be happy chat if you are interested.
19 April 2024 12:27pm
I'll find you some. Just organising all of our stock of these.
TagRanger: Redefining animal tracking iwth ad-hoc wireless networks and software-defined technology
17 April 2024 11:22am
Lotek Telemetry Talks Presents: Tagging Owls – Tips & Tricks from the Experts
16 April 2024 8:26pm
WILDLABS AWARDS 2024 - TimeLord: A low-cost, low-power and low-difficulty timer board to control battery-powered devices
5 April 2024 3:29pm
16 April 2024 9:34am
Thanks @Freaklabs, I think you'll really enjoy getting involved with this too as we're looking for input from makers in the community to get the most from the approach and to capture features and usability ideas from a large number of people.
I've a new modular drop-off tag build using @Rob_Appleby's original SensorDrop board that I think would be great for this project too to see if we can drop different compartments, or do various different timed events with the one TimeLord board.
Most importantly, we have to make it play a MIDI version of the DoctorWho theme song when you arm the device. That has to be the #1 feature if you ask me!
16 April 2024 9:35am
Reminds me that we should look at both terrestrial and marine applications when we get stuck in to the demo builds to make sure we cover use cases
16 April 2024 10:22am
'Most importantly, we have to make it play a MIDI version of the DoctorWho theme song when you arm the device. That has to be the #1 feature if you ask me!'
Seconded!
non-invasive technique to apply GPS collars without catching?
14 June 2021 12:01pm
2 April 2024 7:18pm
Not sure what happened to the excerpt I wanted to post. Apperently the Alaska study authors had some scepticism themselves.
I would be extremely worried about catching wrong species in many cases - with potentially detrimental effects.
12 April 2024 2:17pm
My study in particular is only looking at species that go under fence holes in Southern Africa. The hole determines species size and juveniles for these species are so small the collar would just fall off. I think a proper study could really determine these collars could be useful if the right study species and setting location was determined.
13 April 2024 11:48am
Might very well be so! I highly encourage you to take up the challenge!
DIY VHF receivers?
12 March 2024 2:51pm
29 March 2024 4:32pm
Hi Brandon,
I agree and think VHF will always have better range than UHF. Given how commonly it's used in wildlife tracking, it also makes perfect sense to use it if possible. The trade-off for us was to go for lower cost and higher availability parts. This is particularly a problem for VHF receivers, as you mentioned in your original message. But, SDR is good option potentially for VHF (and UHF), especially given the success of MOTUS.
Range of our 433MHz UHF tags was usually around 250m (up to 500m) LOS, using an external antenna and a high transmission power. We also used high gain, omnidriectional antennas on the receiver end. Tags were triggered by an accelerometer threshold so that they'd save a bit of power whilst animals were resting.
More than happy to discuss further and help if I can.
Cheers,
Rob
3 April 2024 5:04am
Hi Brandon,
This is hard for me to write, because I don't have good news for you. You can find many receivers and transmitters for 433MHz that are used for remote control, such as wireless doorbells, garage door openers, lost model locators, etc. These are extremely cheap, a couple of dollars literally. While this tech can be modified to operate with wildlife tags (around 150MHz), we are talking about hacking RF, not to be approached lightly.
If you really need to DIY, I see 2 options: migrate to 433MHz and build/rebuild all your kit (tags, collars, receivers, locators). Commercial solutions are cheap and available, the work remaining is not much above handyman level. But it is work, and not just work but also testing.
The other option is to remain with 150MHz (although you can make your own tags) and modify an aviation receiver (it lets you listen in to aircraft talking to each other or to the airport). These receivers operate at 130MHz, which puts it in spitting range of 150MHz wildlife tags (this matters). This is the option I'd go for, just because I know it can be done, and I have less sense than curiosity.
4 April 2024 9:05pm
You mention you're working with an engineer, here are a couple of pointers:
- with an SDR (the "digital USB receivers" you mention) you can scan some bandwidth to detect radio pulses. I'm only familiar with the Lotek coded VHF transmitters but they can be received as in the Motus Sensorgnomes. I can point you at the code used there, it does involve a good amount of digital signal filtering/analysis code. One issue with the SDRs is that they're pretty power hungry so you need to plan on more solar panel and battery than you may like, e.g. even rPi Zero + SDR is probably >300mA. Another issue can be interference in that SDRs have a very wideband front-end and so TV, radio, and other stuff can desensitize the front-end.
- there are integrated receivers (ICs) that can be tuned to 150Mhz and can detect VHF transmissions, it's easy for non-coded ones, a bit more involved for coded ones. Specifically, the Semtech sx1231 or sx1276 series are widely available (often called Hope RF69 or RF96, which are modules with those chips). You need someone comfortable writing a customized driver that uses OOK mode or RSSI detection. The other issue is that while there are many suitable boards available for 433/868/915Mhz (e.g. Adafruit, Sparkfun, LilyGo, and many others) you most likely won't find one for 150Mhz. However, for RX-only the matching isn't so super important if you have a good antenna and the signal isn't crazy weak. From a power point of view these can sip power so you can run one on an 18650 for days and a small 1W-5W solar panel is most likely all you need.
Hope this helps...
How does behavior influence the use of technology for animal detection ?
22 March 2024 7:49pm
The Variety Hour: 2024 Lineup
22 March 2024 4:30pm
extending battery life with solar panels
27 February 2019 7:47am
12 January 2023 1:56pm
Hi Peter, we manufacture solar powered Iridium trackers for birds, crocs/alligators and collars for various species. Our longest standing unit is a 55g unit on a Vulture and has been going for 4 years, providing data on an hourly basis. Our croc units include a pressure/depth sensor and provide details of depth and time at depth. Most of our devices include a VHF transmitter which is fully configurable over the air (you can change frequency, pulse duration, pulse interval and operation times - good for security).
12 January 2023 3:08pm
Hi Greg! Your Iridium tags sounds really interesting. I tried looking you up on
- SpoorTrack
The SpoorTrack Iridium Satellite Collars are Iridium satellite tracking collars weighing as little as 250g, suitable for any animal with a neck circumference from 30cm to 1.5m. They are equipped with an internal battery and a high-efficiency solar charger, ensuring the battery never runs out. Suitable for cheetah, lion, leopard, wild dog and most antelope species. They include an always-on activity sensor and VHF transmitter that is fully configurable over-the-air.
www.spoortrack.combut there is not much to be found. Can you provide more details and images of your tags?
Cheers, Lars
22 March 2024 3:12pm
Hello Peter,
Have you find a solution ? I will be happy to discuss with you about your project and field challenges ?
Best,
Virginie
Catch up with The Variety Hour: March 2024
21 March 2024 7:39pm
21 March 2024 9:48pm
30 March 2024 3:08pm
31 March 2024 12:43pm
Leveraging Actuarial Skills for Conservation Impact
15 March 2024 12:31pm
19 March 2024 6:35pm
Thank you for your response Akiba. I will have a look. 👏🏻
19 March 2024 7:52pm
I would look into the TNFD (Taskforce on Nature-Related Disclosures), Finance for Biodiversity, Accounting for Nature, etc. which are all focusing on how to incorporate nature risk into corporate reporting and sustainability frameworks!
20 March 2024 3:48pm
Thank you Carly, I will definitely take a look.
Senior Post-doctoral Researcher/Senior Research Associate Opportunity: Movement ecology of Greenland halibut
13 March 2024 2:00pm
IMU and orientation data for marine species
13 March 2024 9:12am
Here's what you missed at World Wildlife Day 2024
7 March 2024 9:02pm
15 March 2024 2:42pm
5 June 2024 3:05pm
Thanks for sharing this @nkundiushuti ! I think this post would be better suited as an event, that way it will show up on the WILDLABS event calendar page. Let me know if you have any questions on how to make an event post! You just click the +Post button in the top right corner, then click "event."