Birds of the North Woods: Kirtland’s Warbler Natural History Field Trip

Sponsored by Miami University Natural Areas and Audubon Miami Valley

Dates: June 3 – 5, 2005

Field trip report:

Our trip leader was Jim Reid – Field Manager, Miami University Natural Areas. Our guide was Dr. Jay Mager, Ornithologist from Cornell University. Others included Chuck Holliday – Chair-Field Trips Committee, Audubon Miami Valley, Bill Pratt, Bill Wilson, Carla Schwartz, Dotty Carman and Dr. Charles Hornaday.

We were all together in a 15-passenger van with lots of stretch out room for the 8 of us.

Day 1.

We left at 6:30 am from Oxford for Nayanquing Point Wildlife Area at Linwood, Mich. This area is one of the most visited areas in Saginaw Bay for water birds. It is also home to one of the oldest and largest colonies of Yellow-headed Blackbirds in the state. From the observation deck we had good looks at a nesting Yellow Warbler.

Additional sightings included American Bittern, Black Tern, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Bobolink, Sora Rail and Black Crowned Night Heron.

After leaving Nayanquing we arrived at Hartwick Pines State Park located just north of Grayling, Mich. We saw the remnants of an old growth forest that once covered much of Michigan but were felled rapidly as Michigan led the nation in lumber production during the 1880’s and 1890’s. By the early 1900’s, million of pine trees, worth more than all the gold mined in California, had been cut in the Lower Peninsula alone. Gone with the trees were animals such as the fisher, pine marten, woodland caribou, gray wolf and grayling. The birds we saw included: Black-capped Chickadee, Alder Flycatcher, Great Crested Flycatcher, Black-throated Green Warbler, and Evening Grosbeak.

Our last stop was Huron National Forest at Wakeley Lake in Lucerne, Mich. This special area is designed for the protection and restoration of threatened loons and eagles. Vegetation varies from tag alder and conifer swamps to upland jack pine, white pine, and oak.

Birds sighted included: Trumpeter Swan, Common Loon, Bald Eagle, Cliff Swallow, and Blackburnian Warbler.

We spent the night at Mio, Michigan, staying at the AuSable Valley Inn (recommend), and ate dinner at the Paddle Inn (Also recommend).

Day 2.

 6:00 am breakfast at McDonalds (we only ate health foods) than to the Forest Service Ranger Station in Mio to learn about the Kirtland’s Warbler ecology and status update.

The endangered Kirtland’s warbler is one of the rarest members of the wood warbler family. It is a bird of unusual interest for many reasons. It nests in just a few counties in Michigan’s northern Lower and Upper peninsulas, in Wisconsin and the province of Ontario and, currently, nowhere else on Earth. Their nests generally are concealed in mixed vegetation of grasses and shrubs below the living branches of five-to-twenty year old jack pine forests.

Because of its restricted home range and unique habitat requirements, the Kirtland’s warbler probably has always been a rare bird.

Kirtland’s warblers migrate at least 1200 miles to their wintering grounds in the Bahamas

The jack pine forest community provides the primary nesting habitat for the Kirtland’s warbler. This forest species is adapted to dry land condition and has been present on the sandy outwash plains of northern Michigan since the retreat of the Wisconsin ice sheet about 14,000 years ago. A narrow band of jack pine habitat can be found across the north central state and the province of Ontario.

This warbler has very restrictive habitat requirements. In addition to being ground nesters, Kirtland’s warblers prefer jack pine stands over 80 acres in size. Those stands, which are most suitable for breeding, are characterized by having dense clumps of trees interspersed with numerous small, grassy openings, sedges, ferns, and low shrubs. The birds nest on the ground under the living branches of the small trees. Nesting continues in these stands until the lower branches of the trees start dying, or when the trees reach a height of 16 to 20 feet (about 16-20 years of age).

Nearly all nesting occurs in jack pine stands where the soil type is Grayling sand. This is an extremely well drained soil with low humus and nutrient content. Water percolates through the sand so quickly that nests seldom are flooded during a rainstorm. This soil also supports the plant community required for nesting habitat.

The young jack pines upon which the Kirtland’s warbler depends grow after fire removes older trees and rejuvenates the forest. Heat from fire opens jack pine cones to release seeds. Fire also prepares the ground for the germination of the seeds.

With the advent of modern fire protection and suppression efforts, forest management practices did not emphasize the regeneration of jack pine. Consequently, there was a drastic decline of available warbler nesting habitat, and its numbers plummeted.

Now, more than 150,000 acres have been set-aside for the Kirtland’s warbler and their numbers have grown steadily.

Another threat to the Kirtland’s warbler is the predatory cowbirds that lay their eggs in the nest of other birds. The cowbird chicks, which hatch earlier than most songbirds, are more aggressive and will out-compete their nest mates for food. This added competition reduces the number of non-cowbird young that fledge.

A program of live trapping of cowbirds was initiated in the 70’s. The Kirtland’s warbler reproductive success has improved dramatically. The nest parasitism rate has declined from the 1966 – 71 average of 69% to less than 5%. The Kirtland’s numbers have now increased from a low of less than 200 singing adults to over 1300 today. Still, all the Kirtland’s warblers in existent would not fill two bushel baskets.

After lunch in Mio we walked the boardwalk in Luzerne, Mich. This was most productive as we saw many birds including: Canada warbler, Magnolia warbler, Tennessee warbler, Red-breasted Grosbeak, Chestnut-sided warbler and Nashville warbler.

We completed our second day at Tawas Point State Park, just outside of Tawas, Mich. This was another wonderful stop, full of beauty and abundant in wildlife. Some of the birds we saw included: Northern Shoveler, Red-breasted Merganser, Double-crested Cormorant, Bald Eagle, Ruddy Turnstone, Caspian Tern, Common Tern, Forester’s Tern, American Redstart, Orchard Oriole and Clay-colored Sparrow.

Day 3.

We won’t talk about last night’s accommodations except to say the night was short and we didn’t have to stay long.

After another hot breakfast at McDonalds (the only place open this early in the morning) we explored Tuttle Marsh, just outside Oscoda, Mich. This marsh is a 5,000-acre wetland project consisting of over 3 ½ miles of level ditch network and a 2-½ mile low-head dam with water level control structures. To optimize nesting potential for ducks, geese and other birds, 35 earthen nesting islands have been constructed within the 380-acre impoundment. These are managed for grassy nesting cover to provide optimum nesting conditions with a minimum of predation

The target birds we saw were: Wood Duck, Golden-winged warbler, Mourning warbler, Black Tern, Osprey, Green Heron, Common Raven, Marsh Wren, Grasshopper Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow and Bobolink.

And then it was time to head home but not before stopping in Pinconning, Mich. at the Wilson Cheese Factory.

We made a stop in Dundee, Mich. to shop at Cabela’s which advertises itself as the number 1 tourist attraction in the state of Michigan. We limited our stay to 40 minutes so we could make an unscheduled stop at Oak Openings, just outside of Toledo, Ohio where we saw the Red-headed Woodpecker and Lark Sparrow.

We arrived back in Oxford, Ohio at 9:20 PM, having traveled about 1100 miles and seeing 143 species of birds, many of which were “life-birds” for those in our group.

Our appreciation of the Michigan North Woods is only outweighed by our appreciation of one another and the good times shared.

Thanks especially to Tom Hissong-Education Coordinator, Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm in Dayton Ohio, for his invaluable support in helping develop our itinerary; to Dr. Jay Mager for his knowledge, keen ear and skillful driving and Chuck Holliday for his awesome GPS that kept us on track.

And finally thanks to Miami University Natural Areas and Audubon Miami Valley for sponsoring this field trip.

A wonderful adventure!

Jim Reid – Field Manager

Miami University Natural Areas

513 524 2197