Kirtland's Warbler - Incredibly Rare

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Kirtland's Warbler - Incredibly Rare

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Thu Jun 13, 2013 1:39 pm

The Kirtland's Warbler is one of the rarest birds on earth. In the 1970's they were nearly extinct... and their only nesting range on earth was reduced to the North-Central lower peninsula of Michigan. To nest they require 160 continuous acres or more of young Jackpine growth- NOT mature Jackpines. My sports conference in high school was... what else, the jackpine conference. The Kirtland's Warbler winters in the Bahama's. Through aggressive habitat restoration the U.S. Forest Service and the Michigan D.N.R. have achieved a modest comeback of the bird. This was done by planting / harvesting and maintaining young jackpines in very large blocks across northern Michigan. Since this aggressive habitat restoration has begun, sightings of the Kirtland's Warbler have occured in Ontario and Wisconsin... but not many and they remain an endangered bird and are on the endangered species list. In 2007 three (3) Kirtland's Warbler nests were discovered in central Wisconsin. Population esitmates, despite this welcome comeback, remains around the 5,000 mark. But only a few years ago there were less than 2,000 left on earth.

My dad shot these pictures about a week ago of this incredibly rare bird, a welcome sight in Northern Michigan:

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Re: Kirtland's Warbler - Incredibly Rare

Unread postby PLB » Thu Jun 13, 2013 2:06 pm

That's awesome SB!

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Re: Kirtland's Warbler - Incredibly Rare

Unread postby seeds » Thu Jun 13, 2013 2:16 pm

Cool,SB. Thanks,

Apparently there's 5 nests in WI this year,on eht Plum Creek (private) properties in the jackpine barrens of Adams county.

I ain't never seen one. Maybe someday.
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Re: Kirtland's Warbler - Incredibly Rare

Unread postby Bowhunting Brian » Thu Jun 13, 2013 6:55 pm

neat bird.
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Re: Kirtland's Warbler - Incredibly Rare

Unread postby dan » Thu Jun 13, 2013 8:01 pm

Great pic's 8-)
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Re: Kirtland's Warbler - Incredibly Rare

Unread postby Jackson Marsh » Fri Jun 14, 2013 12:49 am

Nice pics!

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Re: Kirtland's Warbler - Incredibly Rare

Unread postby Black Squirrel » Fri Jun 14, 2013 3:09 am

Pretty neat!
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Re: Kirtland's Warbler - Incredibly Rare

Unread postby Uncle Lou » Sat Jun 15, 2013 4:20 am

That right there is awesome, thanks for sharing.

I have driven through the managed area for Kirtlands a few times. Last time I was up there was March 1 on the last day of bobcat season, when the Kirtlands were in the Bahamas. I have been wanting to go back with Ellie and take a ride through there again. This now makes me want to move that up the list a bit
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Re: Kirtland's Warbler - Incredibly Rare

Unread postby UntouchableNess » Sat Jun 15, 2013 5:04 am

Thanks for the post!

I like reading and learning about such things.
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Re: Kirtland's Warbler - Incredibly Rare

Unread postby Stanley » Sat Jun 15, 2013 5:15 am

Thanks for sharing. I will have to show my wife the bird. She is big into birds.
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Re: Kirtland's Warbler - Incredibly Rare

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Sun Jun 16, 2013 10:09 am

As happens quite often in these types of circumstances, humans are directly responsible for the near extinction of this bird. As I mentioned earlier, these birds have to have very large blocks of young jackpine in order to nest. For centuries, they relied on forest fires to burn the large, mature stands of jackpine. The fire caused the seed cones to explode and reseed, creating large blocks of young jackpine. As human populations expanded, as well as the technology to stop forest fires, the availabity of young jackpines in large stands dwindled more and more...

It is likely that without the recognition of what the problem actually was, these birds would have become extinct.
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Re: Kirtland's Warbler - Incredibly Rare

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Sun Jun 16, 2013 10:12 am

seeds wrote:Cool,SB. Thanks,

Apparently there's 5 nests in WI this year,on eht Plum Creek (private) properties in the jackpine barrens of Adams county.

I ain't never seen one. Maybe someday.


I hope we all get to see one someday! Pine barrens are a unique habitat that I knew little about until I discussed it with my father years back. It is good to know that Wisconsin has habitat capable of supporting these birds.
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Re: Kirtland's Warbler - Incredibly Rare

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Tue Jun 18, 2013 10:28 am

Uncle Lou wrote:That right there is awesome, thanks for sharing.

I have driven through the managed area for Kirtlands a few times. Last time I was up there was March 1 on the last day of bobcat season, when the Kirtlands were in the Bahamas. I have been wanting to go back with Ellie and take a ride through there again. This now makes me want to move that up the list a bit


I'm sure Ellie would love it, Lou. Getting to see one of the rarest creatures on earth makes for great adventure! Maybe take her new bow along and do a little stump shooting here and there. ;)
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Re: Kirtland's Warbler - Incredibly Rare

Unread postby BassBoysLLP » Fri Aug 16, 2013 11:35 am

Nice capture!

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Re: Kirtland's Warbler - Incredibly Rare

Unread postby May-39 » Sat Oct 05, 2013 3:04 pm

Great pic,
I'm wondering how they will do after the grayling fire,,at first I thought it would be great but I notice the oaks are growing alot thicker and faster than jackpine..


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