LIFE LIST - Notes on Seeing the Kirkland's Warbler

My spring trips to Michigan are typically a whirlwind of getting somewhere to go fly fishing, meeting up with guides for evening or overnight floats, sleeping in the car, and fetching friends from the airport to get them up to the next airport to fly over to Beaver Island for the week.  The days are always a blur and I rarely take time for anything else.

This year's trip was more of a slow down with me having the better part of a day and a half to find my way up north.  It gave me the opportunity to make an early morning stop at Hartwick Pines State Park to take in the Michigan Audubon Kirkland's Warbler Tour, which had been on my list for years.

 

I grew up somewhat of a "Bird Nerd" and that followed me through college with Saturday morning birding trips all around southwest Michigan, trips to Point Pelee National Park for spring migrations, winter trips to the Upper Peninsula and into Ontario, and I was even was on a team for several years for "wild" 24-hour Southwest Michigan Birdathons.  I've more or less pressed pause on any sort of serious bird watching for the last twenty-five years but seem to be getting pulled back in.

On my "Life List" of nearly 40 warblers already seen, the one that has been missing was the Kirkland's Warbler.  This large warbler is rare since it only ground nests in particular jack pine forested areas, which are limited to areas of northern Michigan around Grayling, Wisconsin, and areas of Ontario.  Numbers of mating pairs have held steady but still not a bird that most have seen. 

 

After meeting everyone in our group at Hartwick Pines State Park, the guide led us a few miles away to a sand road parking lot where the dozen of us went for a walk with jack pine on either side of rarely driven road.  Within minutes, the song of the male Kirkland's Warbler could be heard, followed by another some distance away.  These calls were followed by others and through the morning we heard more than a dozen Kirkland's Warblers sing.  They were here but we needed to wait it out until hopefully one would fly up to one of the many dead trees mixed in above the jack pine forest to sing.  We had some sharp eyes in the group, which was a collection of birdwatchers from the deep south to out east and places between.  

Photograph Provided by Beth Fritts

It didn't take too long before someone from the group found a Kirkland's Warbler off in the distance sitting on a limb but in the morning light, all I could see through my binoculars was the dark chunky silhouette of the bird.  No real field markings.  I really hoped that this wouldn't be the only one we saw as I didn't want to check it off in my field guide by just that look.

We continued to walk slowly down the road with the group spreading out over hundreds of feet.  Stopping.  Listening.  Glassing.  More singing was heard but the birds were near the ground and not up in the trees where they could be seen.  This meant more glassing and listening.  

Patience paid off awhile later when a Kirkland's Warbler flew up to a nearby tree and sang for a few moments to allow most in the group to get an extended look.  One of the birdwatchers had a telephoto lens on her camera and snapped a quick photograph that she graciously shared with several of us days later with an email.  

We saw another for just a moment as it flew from one side of the forest to the other and then one other a bit farther back in the woods.  Certainly not as good of a look as the one that you see in this post.  

By mid-morning I was ready to get on the road to head farther north, but what a neat experience.

Just a couple of gear notes to wrap this up that if you're interested in birds as all, the Merlin app is an essential.  It's really unbelievable how handy this application is with identifying bird sounds, photo, and Bird ID Wizard.  It's free and works worldwide.

I am a huge fan of Maven optics and have been using a pair of B.7 10X50 binoculars since last spring.  They are compact, lightweight, and are perfect to always have along for bird watching, sporting events, hunting, and more.  The optics are super sharp with high contrast and these binoculars may be small but offer a lot being waterproof, fog proof, with multi-coated lenses.  I've decided that after this trip that they will always be tucked in my gear bag for impromptu birding and even looking for fish activity when on the water.

If you are ever in the area of Grayling, Michigan in the spring, the Kirkland's Warbler Tour is well worth taking a morning for.  It only cost $20 per person and was easy to sign up for online.