Migration covers long distances, often spanning continents. How can we study this behaviour? Songbirds are fairly tiny birds, weighing less than 20 grams, thus tracking devices need to be small and light to not affect the animal’s behaviour or compromise its survival. With increased battery lifetime and possibilities for autonomous energy supply, tracking devices (radio transmitters, light-level geolocator archival tags, radar and satellite tracking) are getting lighter, thereby becoming accessible for smaller animals, such as songbirds. The most informative data come from studies using global positioning system (GPS) satellite transmitters, where real-time recording of the signal by satellites enable the long-term monitoring of migratory movement around the globe without recapture of the tagged animal. Using this technology for real-time monitoring of smaller passerines such as the European blackcap is not yet possible due to the relatively large size of transmitters. We use alternative technologies include archival tags that record light-intensity data (i.e. light-level geolocators) as well as radio-transmitters and telemetry systems on a variety of species.