Motus is a world-wide network of automated wildlife tracking stations. It relies on a dispersed system of independently managed receivers to detect radio tagged animals. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has played a major role in the development of the Motus network in California. As the density of stations in the west has increased, the network has become an important tool for understanding migration patterns of small bodied highly mobile species. From pelicans to butterflies, researchers are putting Motus to work. Here we illustrate the network’s rapid development in the state and the importance of partnerships in that progression, highlight interesting movement patterns that the network is revealing for several western species and summarize the CDFW Motus project’s impact by providing summary information about the project’s receivers and detections.