Warbler Guy, what’s being done to help declining populations of Golden-winged Warbler?

Victor (in Chicago), one wildlife management technique currently employed to help create suitable breeding habitat for the Golden-winged Warbler (and other species that, likewise, prefer young, pioneer, second-growth vegetational habitats) originates from funding provided by such groups as The Ruffed Grouse Society, Wildlife Management Institute, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the American Bird Conservancy. 

Interested in promoting young forest management as a means to ensure the Golden-winged Warbler maintains its current breeding range in the upper Midwest, these groups have provided funds to public agencies (e.g., Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources) (DNR) that have wildlife biologists that, in turn, coordinate educational workshops for landowners interested in conserving the presence of their local avifauna species (e.g., Golden-winged Warbler). 

This kind of effort goes beyond Wisconsin, as my readings tell me one or more of the aforementioned groups is also helping fund other conservation efforts and management plans that seek to preserve various bird species’ populations, such as Ruffed Grouse that also often prefer to nest in similar habitat utilized by Golden-winged Warbler. 

As for my luck in finding Golden-winged Warbler recently, a fleeting glimpse with a transient in Door County a few weeks ago is a fine memory, thanks to my friend and wildlife biologist Paul Regnier who first spotted a foraging male. 

I say “lucky” because I never consider this species to be common or abundant. Traipsing through various Wisconsin warbler-watching locations through the years has always resulted in no more than five or 10 detections of this species annually. 

A rare vagrant on the West Coast to the Pt. Reyes National Seashore area also occurs, though I’m usually tardy chasing it, thereby swinging and missing at the pitches I see on the local North Bay Birds listserv within the Marin County (SF Bay Area) location where I live (Novato, a northern Marin Co. city).