Roy, in Racine, WI, here's a "copy & paste" from a fine email newsletter published by Wayne Peterson & Paul Baicich (via: http://refugeassociation.org/news/birding-bulletin/), noting the 2013 breeding success of Kirtland's Warbler in Michigan, Wisconsin & Ontario:
(Before you read it, did you know Kirtland's Warbler has nested in Wisconsin for seven consecutive breeding seasons? More about the federally endangered Kirtland's Warbler in WI can be read at the WI DNR link provided on the last lines, below.)
(photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons, wikipedia.com)
KIRTLAND'S
WARBLER NUMBERS AT A COMFORTABLE HIGH
The numbers from
the last breeding season are officially in, and Kirtland's Warblers remain near
an all-time high.
The Kirtland's
Warbler survey is annually conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
U.S. Forest Service, Michigan DNR, Michigan Department of Military and Veterans
Affairs, Michigan Audubon Society, and numerous citizen volunteers. Kirtland's
Warblers nest on the ground in central Michigan, various counties in Wisconsin, and in Ontario where they usually select
nesting sites in stands of jack pine between four and 20 years old. Surveyors
seek out singing males on territory to identify this species during the breeding season.
Biologists,
researchers and volunteers observed 2,004 singing males in Michigan during the
official 2013 nesting survey period. An additional 21 singing males were found
outside Michigan, in Wisconsin (18) and in Ontario (3).
In 2012, there
were 2,063 singing males counted in Michigan. These numbers are in stark
contrast to those of 1974 and 1987, when only 167 singing males were found -
the lowest survey numbers ever recorded.
The current
revival has been so impressive that removing the species from the federal
Endangered Species list is a possibility, perhaps some time in the near future.
"Two
thousand pairs of birds is still a pretty low number," warned Philip
Huber, a U.S. Forest Service biologist working on the project. Because
Kirtland's Warblers are so uniquely adapted to a sandy-soil jack-pine habitat,
they now depend heavily on human intervention for survival (e.g., cowbird
removal, pine-plantings, and fire-management).
"Our success
is allowing managers to work with additional partners to transition from a mode
of recovery to one of long-term sustainability," said Dan Kennedy,
Michigan's DNR endangered species coordinator.
For more
information about this rare bird, visit the Michigan DNR's Kirtland's Warbler
web page:
For Wisconsin's Kirtland's Warbler web page:
http://www.fws.gov/Midwest/GreenBay/endangered/kiwa/index.html
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