Here's what it was like to find Kirtland's Warbler in Michigan and the Bahamas in the same year

There were only a few hundred of these "jack pine birds" left as recently as the late 1980s.

A Kirtland’s Warbler peers at the camera with a bill full of insects. Photo by Kristin Sanders.

This post appeared in The Chicago Birder in November of 2018.

Though I’ve seen wintering Kirtland’s Warblers on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas, until recently I hadn’t seen them on their breeding grounds in Michigan. For those who don’t know, Kirtland’s Warblers are one of the rarest birds in North America. The vast majority of their species breeds in one small section of Michigan.

I was excited to possibly achieve a rare double by viewing Kirtland’s Warblers on their breeding grounds in Michigan in the same year as seeing them in the Bahamas. Though I’ve spent quite a bit of time in Michigan, and my wife hails from there, I had never made it to the famed stands of jack-pine near Mio, Michigan, where the bulk of the world’s Kirtland’s spend their summers.

When we won a weekend at a northern Michigan golf resort as part of a school silent auction, we began to hatch a plan to include a stop to see the warbler. We strategically scheduled our trip for late June to leave open the possibility of latching onto a Kirtland’s tour leaving from Hartwick Pines State Park, near Mio (pronounced MY-o). But between dropping off our daughters at my mother-in-law’s and making the most of the discount golf, we weren’t even certain we would have time to see the warbler. Manistee, where we were staying, was essentially on the other side of Michigan, about two hours from Hartwick Pines, and the tours started at 7:30 a.m., a daunting time for two parents who typically savor every moment of sleep away from the kids.

After two beautiful days of golf, we steeled ourselves for an early morning and committed to rising pre-dawn for the trip toward Hartwick Pines. A stunning sunrise greeted us as we made our way east through the bogs and deep woods of the northern part of the Lower Peninsula. It was just getting light when we pulled into the lot at the park visitor center, along with about 20 other Kirtland’s Warbler hopefuls. After watching a short film about warbler habitat preservation efforts, a Michigan Audubon Society guide led us in a caravan toward an off-the-grid location several miles away, eventually pulling off the road near a sandy two-track that led into the pines. The skies were clear and the temperature was comfortable. At first glance, the habitat was eerily like that of the Bahamas 1,500 miles and an ocean away. The sandy soil harbored blueberry bushes similar in morphology to the shrubs of the Bahamas, and the stunted jack-pines were reminiscent of the low forests of the islands. Soon enough two warblers appeared, though their white outer tail feathers and yellow patches gave them away as Yellow-rumped Warblers, a much more frequently seen Setophaga species and one of the more common warblers. Within a few minutes, though, a larger warbler appeared at the top of a dead sapling: this one was unmistakably a Kirtland’s Warbler, blue-gray above, broken eye ring and yellow breast, with a bill full of insects no less. As we watched, the bird landed close to the road and disappeared into the brush. When we looked down into a gap in the brush we realized what were seeing. A nest. With fledglings.

We gave the nest a wide berth and began to head back down the road, snapping off photos of two more birds and scanning the unique landscape for a handful of other species. Before long, we were back at the main road and saying farewell to the others in our group. We got in our car and made our way south down I-75 toward a rendezvous with our girls. We were perhaps a little weary from our early morning (4:30 Central wakeup time!) but content in our knowledge that we had tracked Kirtland’s Warblers from the Bahamas to Michigan.

Postscript: We unexpectedly made it back to Hartwick Pines for a second time that summer, when on a family trip we were searching for a place to camp. This time we had more time to explore the state park itself, thoroughly enjoying its beauty and hiking through some of the oldest groves of white pines in Michigan. It was an appropriate coda to our travels in 2018—this time with more sleep.

And, in case you missed it, here’s a look at some of the 34 warbler species that made their way through Chicago in May (no Kirtland’s here, though!):

Clean energy redux

Legislators in Springfield reconvened last week, and the thought was they’d take up a major clean energy bill that would wean Illinois from coal by 2035. The Senate Energy Committee met and never addressed the bill so negotiations are continuing with the thought that legislators might return again next month. The reality is that closing coal plants also means that some will be out of the job (as much as there are bill provisions to aid plant workers). Still, this is a highly complex bill. As accommodations are made for the coal and natural gas lobbies, that means it begins to drift from its fundamental green energy principles.

If you care about birds, if you care about climate change, this is a bill to keep tabs on.

In other news, whether coincidence or not, coal-fired plants in Romeoville and Waukegan last week announced they would shut down by next year. Progress.

Re-visit a plover story

On Saturday, I have a screening of “Monty and Rose” including a Q&A with actor/artist Tony Fitzpatrick afterward. Tony appears in the film and has been a great supporter of Chicago’s Piping Plovers. You can register for the screening, which is sponsored by Redstart Birding and Bird Watcher’s Digest, by clicking here.

This post was emailed to the free list as well as paid subscribers. You can ensure you never miss a post by becoming a paid subscriber. Ten days ago, paid subscribers read about my visit with Piping Plovers Nish and Nellie on the first morning after they completed their clutch in Ohio. By becoming a paid subscriber, you support local storytelling and advocacy for birds and their conservation, while covering a portion of the costs of creating this newsletter each week.