Kirtland's Warbler

About the Kirtland's Warbler

Kirtland's warbler (Setophaga kirtlandii), also known in Michigan by the common name jack pine bird, or the jack pine warbler, is a small songbird of the New World warbler family (Parulidae). Nearly extinct just years ago, populations have recovered due to the conservation efforts of the Kirtland's Warbler Conservation Team and its members. The birds require large areas, greater than 160 acres (65 hectares), of dense young jack pine for breeding habitat. This habitat was historically created by wildfire, but today is created through the harvest of mature jack pine (Pinus banksiana), and planting of jack pine seedlings.

The population of the species spends the spring and summer in its breeding range in the Great Lakes region of Canada (Ontario) and the United States (Wisconsin and Michigan, especially in the northeastern Lower Peninsula), and winters in the West Indies.

This species was first recorded by Europeans relatively late for a bird from eastern North America. The first specimen was shot at sea somewhere between the Abaco Islands of The Bahamas and Cuba in mid-October 1841 by the ornithologist Samuel Cabot III. However, the specimen was unrecognized as a new species... Wikipedia →