The hour of 3 am and I are becoming intimate bedfellows. That being the case, I may as well prop up my eyelids with toothpicks, wince from the glare of my screen in this darkened room, and report on my trip to the Midwest Birding Symposium.
I went into the symposium believing that I was here more for the birders than the birding. I looked forward to getting out to the famed Magee Marsh, a migrant stopover situated on the southwestern edge of Lake Erie, but I didn’t have designs on a long or intense birding experience.
It took only ONE bird to ramp up the birding intensity, however. This handsome Kirtland’s Warbler, which experts tell me is a first-year male:
Kirtland's Warbler observed at East Harbor State Park, western Lake Erie basin, Ohio, September 18, 2009.
I already dished on that sighting here, and other blogging attendees will no doubt relate their experiences (bloggers, place your link in the comments to help us out). Thanks to the wonderful spotters and informers who kept us in the loop on this sighting. And big apologies to those who did not see the bird – I feel your pain.
To put this sighting in perspective for you: Kirtland’s Warbler is one of the rarest members of the wood warbler (Parulidae) family, due in large part to its restricted range and unique habitat requirements. The bird nests in just a few counties in Michigan’s northern Lower and Upper peninsulas, in Wisconsin and the province of Ontario.
The bird nests on the ground in 5-20 year old jack pine forests, usually in stands greater than 80 acres. Jack pines of this age class became increasingly rare because they require fire to germinate and spread (yet Man no like Fire, so we often suppressed them). Kirtland’s Warblers reached their peak population numbers between 1885-1900, they plummeted in the early 1900’s, and by the late 1950’s recovery efforts were already underway with various forestry management practices. Today in Michigan, jack pine stands are managed by logging, burning, seeding, and replanting on a rotational basis to provide approximately 38,000 acres of productive nesting habitat at all times.
Kirtland’s Warbler populations have also been impacted by a persistent nemesis, the Brown-headed Cowbird. Cowbird mothers lay their eggs in other species’ nests and are raised without question by the host mother. This practice, called nest parasitism, decreases the breeding success of the host species. Fortunately, cowbird trapping has decreased the nest parasitism rate from 66% to <5% in the last 35-40 years. Today’s population numbers hover around 1,700 mating pairs.
Kirtland’s Warblers flock to the Bahamas in winter – along with tens of thousands of other sun-and-rum seeking vacationers for whom the beaches are boardwalked, the trees are felled, and tiki torches and hotel rooms light up the night sky. It’s vitally important for this species to have adequate food and habitat on their wintering grounds, as well as at migratory stopovers along their flyway. A multi-agency conservation partnership was formed to work within the archipelago to find pockets of wintering birds, preserve habitat and educate people on the special importance of their islands to the Kirtland’s and other species (Next time you plan a tropical vacation, think about what birds may winter there and what you can do to help promote bird conservation while on the ground).
In the Crazy Connections category: the bird was first collected (i.e., SHOT) in my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio (which is about 100 miles east of where the Symposium was held and an additional 100 miles distant from its range) by the son-in-law of Jared P. Kirtland, a medical doctor and all-round naturalist who lived in Cleveland.
The man brought the specimen to Kirtland, who submitted it to the Smithsonian Institution for identification and preservation. Eventually, the species was named after Kirtland, as was the esteemed Kirtland Bird Club in Northeast Ohio. Way back in 1843, Kirtland also co-founded (Case) Western Reserve University medical school which is where my husband earned his doctorate.
Judging from whispers I heard “coming up” in Northeast Ohio, echoed by this flattering memoir/biographical sketch written in the tone of the day, Kirtland was a one-in-a-million person and naturalist. This connection makes this sighting even more special for me.
Well, there I go, wanting to give you a synopsis of the symposium but delivering a Kirtland’s Warbler essay instead. I couldn’t help it. I’m still enamored by this bird. Still talking about it. Still weeping over the photos. Still thanking my lucky stars to have seen such a rare and beautiful bird. Suffice it to say the weekend was a whirlwind tour of joy, jocularity, friendship, reunions, introductions, surprises, birds, learning, and even a dash of gin-soaked drama. I’ll save that story for Vanity Fair. ; )
Related posts:
- Approaches to Bird Identification & A Kirtland’s Warbler I recall an interesting conversation I had at the Midwest Birding Symposium on approaches to bird identification. To set the stage, I also dug up...
- My Life Kirtland’s Warbler (i.e., Life Is Good At MBS) My $75 registration fee was just returned in spades. During one of the early morning talks at MBS today, my cell phone vibrated with...
- A Birder’s Tale: Spotting A Tricky Rare Hybrid, The “Lawrence’s” Warbler PROLOGUE Why a prologue? Because birding backstories are almost as fun as the birding itself! The birding network is so broad and keenly in...
{ 1 trackback }
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Laura-
Lovely photos! It was wonderful to share this bird with so many good friends… maybe a Kirtland’s tatoo is in order.
Glad you came back for a visit! Weedpicker Cheryl
Once again drawn here by the quality of your images, I find on this occasion that I’m equally impressed by your words. If this is what 3am does for you you should stay up late more often, I find that Red Bull (caffeine stimulant drink) helps with those early hours blog marathons. Did I say this was agreat post? It is.
Cheryl, a TATTOO! You’re on the right track.
Alan, thank you, my friend. Keepin’ it real — and a slug of Red Bull — always leads to the liveliest writing, doesn’t it?
Congrats on the sighting (and lovely photos of it)!
Excellent Post Laura! Full of wit and information!
So happy you were able to see it!
Laura
Let’s see if this link works? I put it as my website address signing on to leave a comment. Its a link to one of the 5 Kirtland’s that Jesse Fagan found on our inaugural tour to the Bahamas. I think I mentioned that the photo he got looked a lot like the habitat we saw the Ohio bird in, small shrubs, lots of sun getting through the canopy. I can’t help but think that this immature Kirtland’s must have an amazing template of the habitat he is looking for to winter in, a habitat he or she has never seen in its life. That little corner of East Harbor Park, and there was no other spot quite like it in the area, hit that “sweet spot” in his brain, and he stayed cozy and secure for a day. Lucky us! It also makes a great argument for the importance of not only good old habitats in conservation, but diversity of habitats.
(The link worked fine. Just click on Alvaro’s name to see the bird).
Wow, I’m really happy you could tie this discussion up with a bird from the Bahamas.
I’d love to know more about how the birds are distributed on the islands. Do they arrange themselves out of the fray – on the distant, unpopulated islets of the archipelago, or do they mix with the beachcombers–and are therefore more vulnerable? Taking this a step farther, what happens to these islands, and these birds, when seas rise from polar melt?
One of the reasons Birds Can Save The World! (Amen!) is because as you understand them better, they force you to think beyond your own patch and understand and care about the places the birds stitch together in their migrational sojourns.
The next question, Alvaro, is what other fantastic birds can we see in the Bahamas? When are the best months to go?
Laura, sorry I have not replied to the question. I was participating in the Monterey Bay Bird Festival this past weekend, and keeping busy watching shorebirds, seabirds and fields of artichokes! The Bahamas is good at any time of year, but winter and spring are the best times to visit. Fall would be ok as well, but the chance of hurricanes is a real downer. Summer is very hot and humid with no overwintering species, so less diversity. To see a good diversity of birds you need to travel to more than one of the islands, as they don’t all have the same species on them. Eleuthera is key to finding our bud the Kirtland’s Warbler, but also goodies like the Great Lizard-Cuckoo. Picture a giant Yellow-billed Cuckoo with fancier colors and you get the picture. Part of the attraction of the Bahamas is that there are several species found there which are otherwise only found on Cuba (Cuban Parrot being noteworthy). Also the Bahamas has its own endemic, so found nowhere else, birds like the Bahama Yellowthroat and Bahama Woodstar which is a tiny hummingbird. Finally, the pine forests of the Bahamas also have local forms (subspecies) of some continental birds which are different enough that probably warrant being separated as species. Two examples are the Bahama version of the Brown-headed Nuthatch, and of the Yellow-throated Warbler. The nuthatch is sadly becoming quite rare, it is found on Grand Bahama Island. I love islands and while I have traveled throughout the Caribbean I have yet to go to the Bahamas myself, but I salivate at the thought of birding the pine forests, having a mid day dip in that gorgeous ocean, and then a conch or lobster dinner to top it off. Hey, food is one of the joys of birding too!