I left the motel in Grayling, Michigan early and drove through a smoky morning
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| Fires in Canada left a pall of smoke across the region |
about 15 minutes back east on
Highway 72 to the intersection of Staley Lake Road, where there was a stand of
young jack pine.
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| Habitat shot . . . |
Parking the car, I
walked south along the road, listening to the morning song of the many
Nashville Warblers. Then, I heard the
song of the Kirtland’s Warbler. The
stand is a preserve for this species, which has been on the Endangered Species
list since 1967.
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| More habitat - I never could get a photo of the Kirtland's . . . |
This is one of the stands being managed through timber
harvest, tree planting and controlled burning to maintain the nesting grounds
for the Kirtland’s. The female Warbler
builds her nest of leaves and grass below 5-to-20 foot tall Jack Pines (Pinus
banksiana) in the undergrowth.
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| Young Jack Pines |
The Warbler’s threatened extinction is caused primarily
by loss of this very specific habitat.
Managed timber harvest, tree plants, and controlled burning - as well as the removal of Brown-headed Cowbirds - have helped
increase the number of Kirtland’s Warblers tenfold from the 1971’s low count of
200 singing males to 2,383 in 2015.
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| This is a FWS photo of the Kirtland's Warbler |
Kirtland’s warblers require large stands of young, dense
jack pine forest at least 80 acres in size, but they prefer stands of 300 to
400 acres, or larger. Their exacting requirements for nesting, as well as
cowbird parasitism, caused a drastic decline in numbers and led the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service to list the Kirtland’s warbler as an endangered species in
1967.
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| Yup - Kirtland's habitat |
Under natural conditions, Kirtland's warbler nesting
habitat is produced by fire. Fire is a
natural component of forests, and jack pine trees are dependent on fire. Heat from fire is needed to open their cones
to release seeds. Fire also removes plants that compete with jack pines for
forest space and creates a bed of ash that helps the new seeds grow. Fires
before the 20th century were more widespread in the jack pine plains of
Michigan and created large nesting areas for the Kirtland's warbler. Modern
habitat management is aimed at mimicking post-fire conditions, albeit on a much
smaller spatial scale.
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| The area is closed to entry (off the roads) |
Prescribed fire, clearcutting, replanting, and cowbird
control are some of the measures taken to restore Kirtland's warblers and their
habitat.
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| Lots of birds were singing, but this isn't a Kirtlands . . . |
I continued along Staley Lake Road for about a mile,
hearing one more Kirtland’s, until I came to a fire road and cut west along
that track. I heard a third Kirtland’s
male singing, but still couldn’t get a view of the bird. Then, a bird behind me was giving a chip-chip
call and I focused on a female Kirtland’s Warbler. She was moving too fast through the branches
for me to snap a photo, but - Yay! - Life Bird No. 623. I did get a sound recording, and attached it
to the eBird Report.
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| Goldenrod - I dont know if it's Solidago speciosa or S. juncea? |
I continued to hear a couple male Kirtland’s warblers
singing on the way back to the car, still getting no views of them, but
enjoying the wildflowers.
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| Harebell - Campanula rotundiflora |
The morning turned toward mid-day, and the morning chorus
was diminishing, so I returned to the car and set my sights toward the shore of
Lake Michigan. My afternoon target was
to see some of the ESA-Endangered Piping Plovers that nest in the area.
Pulling into the trail head at Sleeping Bear Point, I
walked through the mosquitoes to the lakeshore.
There were quite a few recreationists on the strand, but
as I got to the beach, I looked toward the southeast and saw a couple of people
with spotting scopes. This augured well
for finding out what’s going on with the birds in the area, so I made my way
over to find Alice Van Zoeren , a research assistant with the University of
Minnesota team that bands and monitors the plovers, and a colleague scoping the
plovers.
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| Real Science! |
Alice was very enthused about the birds and gave me a
brief rundown of the monitoring and recovery programs.
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| Baby plovers are such cute balls of fluff! |
When a federal recovery program was established by the
United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 1986, fewer than 20 pairs of Great
Lakes piping plovers existed, and this isolated population was close to
extinction.
With this year’s record high water levels in the Great
Lakes, several of the Plovers’ nests in Canada have been reportedly washed
away.
Sleeping Bear Dunes is home to nearly half of the Great
Lakes plovers during spring and summer, and the breeding sites are roped off
and posted with keep-out signs.
Nests
are topped with cage-like enclosures that bar entry to predatory Merlins,
gulls, raccoons, foxes and coyotes but leave enough space between the wires for
the plovers to enter and exit.
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| The wire frames are around the plover nests |
I spent a fair amount of time enjoying the plover nesting and chick-rearing area and continued
to the Boathouse museum, where they have a great historical display of the Lifesaving Station.
Docents were
providing a talk about the history of the Lifesaving Station and showing the
many artifacts.
Those were the days when having a lifesaving station meant the
difference between a mere shipwreck and a disaster with much loss of life.
Finished with my birding and sightseeing, I set my sights
for the Upper Peninsula, crossing the Mackinac Bridge and taking a room for the
night at the Huron Inn in Saint Ignace. i had supper at the Driftwood Sports Bar. I am not usually someone who takes photos of my meals, but they just did such a pretty job with their baked whitefish and mashed potatoes . . .
Grayling State Forest eBird Checklist is Here
Another Grayling State Forest eBird Checklist is Here
Sleeping Bear Dunes eBird Checklist is Here
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| Not really pertinent, but it was a cool old barn near Sleeping Bear Point |
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