Michigan Mecca
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| Kirkland's Warbler |
July 16, 1999
At a campground along the banks of the Manistique River in Germfask, MI, we approached a lady looking through her binoculars into a white cedar tree. “I’ll bet you know all about the birds of Michigan,” I said loudly so she would hear.
She turned around, saw the binoculars around our necks and said, “Nope, but I enjoy watching them anyway.” We chatted briefly about where we come from and what we did before retirement. Then she said, “Oh, are you planning to go see the Kirtland’s Warblers?” I had read that this warbler was one of the rarest birds in the world and could be found breeding only the upper portion of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan in Jack Pine forests.
“Maybe we will, since it is sorta on the way to where we are going anyway,” I replied. We were debating whether to go to Mackinac Island to see all the old mansions and other attractions or to see if we could find one of the rare warblers. Didn’t feel that we had enough time to do both since we were in a bit of a hurry to arrive in Virginia before the birth of our third grandchild. But the decision was really fairly easy; Mackinac Island never really had a chance. On the other hand, finding one of these rare birds might require weeks.
The next morning we drove along the scenic north shore of Lake Michigan, through towns with names such as Naubinway, Epoufette and St. Ignace, across the five-mile-long Mackinaw Bridge, down south along I-75, then east to the small town of Mio, MI. When we arrived, the temperature was about 80F; it was 3 PM and windy – not good conditions for finding rare warblers – so we visited the DNR (Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources) to obtain advice on the best birding spots. We were handed several brochures and met Don Soults, a technician with the DNR. I pumped Don with lots of questions including where to find the warblers. He proved to be one of the most informative and helpful folks we have met during our travels. He produced a map of the area and proceeded to make orange pen marks in areas where the warblers have been seen recently. “Can the Kirtland’s Warbler be called with human vocalizations?” I asked.
“Yes,” Don replied, “but I can’t tell you without getting in trouble. One of my friends calls them to within a few feet.”
When the males arrive in the spring from a winter in the Bahama Islands, the male establishes a territory and sings a musical “tup, tup, chichi, weewee” to attract a mate. It is during this time that DNR and National Forest Service folks conduct a survey. The known breeding area is set up with a series of transect lines. The experts move along this line and listen for the song of the male warbler, which is easy to hear for folks with good hearing. (Later, a girl at the Forestry office played it from a CD ROM on her computer so Pat and I would know the exact vocalization. I could not hear a single note – too high-pitched for ears damaged many years ago by excessive exposure to rifle fire -- especially to Marine Corps M1 rifle shots. I am forced to depend on Pat’s ears and my vision.)
Don suggested that I visit with the “guru of Kirtland’s Warblers” named Jerry Weinrich. Maybe Jerry could take us out to help us find our first warbler. “Jerry is a biologist who is one of the ‘chief protectors’ of the KW. Biologists who wished to do DNA studies on the feathers of a KW asked if they could capture some of them and remove a few feathers. Jerry said no!” Jerry also kept the loggers out of KW territories. Don tried to contact Jerry by phone, but Jerry was not answering. “Somewhere around here is a video with info about the warbler,” Don claimed. He searched for a while in the drawers of several desks but came up empty-handed. “You will want to visit with the U.S Forest Service office, cause they are the ones who give KW (Kirtland’s Warbler) tours.”
“So what is the current status of the KW?” I asked.
“Very good,” Don replied. “They prefer Jack Pine from about 6 to 18 years of age. About 15 to 20 years ago, there was a lot of prescribed burning and cutting of larger trees to make way for the planting of small Jack Pines for these birds. Fire causes the seeds of the Jack Pine to sprout, but there were many liabilities associated with the burning. One forester was accidentally killed during a prescribed burn to improve warbler habitat. Now there is more shredding and roller chopping to remove unwanted vegetation.”
“Anyway, whereas the total numbers of male KW were down to about 150 in the world, last year there were 804 and this spring we have counted 902 singing males. They will be taken off the endangered species list when these numbers reach about 2000, so progress has been made. Almost all these birds were found in the Mio area. In 1957, one KW was found in Ontario and five in Wisconsin -- none were found in those areas this year.”
“Only well-trained individuals are allowed to cooperate in the KW census. They must undergo a KW school before we can trust their sightings. So we are fairly confident in our estimate of bird numbers.”
As we chatted, I noticed a sign on Don’s office door. It read: “Endangered Species Area. Curmudgeon crustii, Crusty Toad Habitat. Caution: Toad will bite and emit nasty comments and opinions. Stay out of area or risk personal injury or insult.”
“My friend put that up,” Don said. “ Didn’t notice that he called me a toad.”
I explained that my sister, Dorothy, has often called me a curmudgeon, so we must be soul-mates or something.
Leaving the DNR office with hands full of literature and maps, we next visited the U.S. Forest Service Office. A sign in front of the office read, “Kirtland’s Warbler tours Monday thru Friday until July second.” Today was July 13th, so we were too late for tours. Entering the office, we met Michaela Knorr, who often gives the tours. I explained that we had come all the way from Texas to see a KW. “Is there any chance that you could still give us a tour?” I asked.
“Well, I would have to do it unofficially,” she explained. “It would certainly be unethical to take you on the trails where I normally gave the tours because that is where the birds are now nesting and we do not wish to disturb them during nesting season.” Then she produced another map of the area and showed us where she gave the tours and explained that even though it is illegal ($500 fine/person) to enter the nesting area, maybe we could see one from the road, which is legal.
I asked her why the KW is so rare. “One of the main reasons is due to parasitism by brown-headed cowbirds. In 1960 the experts monitored 137 KW nests and found that 75 contained one or more cowbird eggs. The brown-headed cowbird lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. When the young cowbird hatches, it is larger than the warblers, so it gets almost all the food brought in by the warbler parents. The warbler chicks starve. Consequently, the brown-headed cowbird is the worst enemy of the KW. To reduce this problem, brown-headed cowbirds are trapped in large cages that are baited with grain and water. Although cowbirds cannot be totally eradicated, the problem of cowbird parasitism of KW nests has been minimized.
“But it is the planting of young Jack Pine trees that accounts for the success of this program. About 73.1% of all warblers are found in the replanted areas, 19.4% in a large wildfire area and only 7.5% in all other areas.
Before we left the Forest Service Office, we checked out all the relevant literature in the office. One book was devoted exclusively to the Kirtland’s Warbler. Aptly titled “Kirtland’s Warbler,” it was written by Lawrence H. Walkinshaw and subtitled: “A Natural History of An Endangered Species.” It contained all the detailed studies that one might expect from a graduate student thesis.
Realizing that we had probably overstayed our welcome and due to the fact that the office was closing for the day, we decided it was time to leave. Armed with these maps, brochures, and information we felt ready to begin an odyssey into Kirtland’s Warbler habitat. But what were our real chances of seeing one of these rare birds? Don had rolled his eyes upward when I asked him that question. Consequently, our expectations of actually seeing a KW were low. “Maybe if we stay here and search for a week or more, we might actually see one of these birds,” I suggested to Pat.
So we drove out into the Huron-Manistee National Forest to get a feel for the search of this rare bird. At the site recommended by Ms. Knorr, we listened carefully for the “tup, tup, chichi, weewee” vocalization of the male. Don had suggested that some might still be singing even though the mating season was past. Instead, Pat heard some chip, chip sounds in the dense Jack Pines along the road. We saw a Cedar Waxwing on a large, dead tree, a Spotted Towhee, and a Song Sparrow, but no warbler. “What the heck,” I thought. “Maybe I can call one to the side of the road.” Signs along the road warned us of the illegalities of entering the nesting areas behind the sign, so we dared not enter the forest in search of this elusive bird. I tried my sparrow call about five times and suddenly, a yellow bird appeared in clear sight about 30 feet away. It had a small warbler beak, black streaks on the back, broken white eye ring, yellow breast with stripes on the side and all the other characteristics of the Kirtland’s Warbler. It was a definitive identification of a Kirtland’s Warbler. Pat and I were elated. It was really much too easy.
We watched as the warbler found a large insect larva, caught it, beat it against a small limb a few times, and finally consumed the whole thing. Any guilt I was feeling for possibly disturbing this warbler by calling it, was greatly reduced when I saw it feed. When Pat suggested that calling these birds might be harmful to the birds, I began to wonder if the calling had really attracted the bird or whether it was an accident that I had called and the bird had appeared. It was necessary to test the hypothesis. We moved down the road about 100 yards and I called again. Three Black Capped Chickadees appeared along with a young or female Kirtland’s Warbler. “Enough!” I said. “Let’s leave these birds in peace.” Although a sample size of two is very small, I feel fairly confident that calling in two places and obtaining two sightings of a KW was convincing evidence that calling was effective.
Now, what do we do? There we were with maps full of marked locations to search for KW and we had already seen two at our first stop. We had come to the mecca for birders who wish to add the KW to their bird lists -- and had experienced success. We felt mixed feelings of elation for having seen this rare warbler, but some disappointment that the hunt was over so quickly.
I find it interesting that in order to save one endangered species, it is necessary to destroy the native forest on which so many other species depend. But apparently replacing the native forest with monoculture Jack Pine trees has been beneficial for the KW. Is it worth sacrificing some native forest in order to save a very rare species? Maybe in the future, we may find that there was really some other way that this warbler could have been saved without having to destroy native forest. In hindsight, we may look back and criticize the biologists and administrators who made the decision. However, since their strategy for saving this warbler has apparently been successful, it is very difficult to criticize their decisions. These are the kinds of problems that practical wildlife biologists and wildlife administrators face. I’m glad it’s not my decision.
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