Save the date!

Jack Pine Planting Day is set for Saturday, May 6. This is your opportunity to help the Kirtland's Warbler by helping us plant three acres of trees as nesting grounds for the rarest songbird in North America.

This year's site will be on the north side of Five Mile Road, about six miles southeast of Grayling. It's part of the Pere Cheney tract, which historically has been one of the most important Kirtland's Warbler Management Areas.

We'll start planting a 9 a.m. and will work to get about 4,500 trees in the ground by noon. This event will take place rain or shine.

More information to come soon. Stay tuned.

2023 Calendar Contest is now open!

We are excited to announce that entries are now being accepted for the Kirtland’s Warbler 2023 Young Artists Contest.

The contest is held annually and is sponsored by the USDA Forest Service Huron-Manistee National Forests, Huron Pines AmeriCorps members, Marguerite Gahagan Nature Preserve, American Bird Conservancy, Eastern National Forest Interpretive Association, and The Bahamas National Trust.

According to the contests rules, "Entries to the Kirtland’s Warbler 2023 Young Artists Contest must be original and demonstrate an understanding of the Kirtland’s warbler or any other creatures that live in northern Michigan’s unique jack pine forests, or its winter habitat site in The Bahamas."

So, if you know a teacher who might want to do a unit on Kirtland's Warblers and Michigan or an art teachers searching for a way to tie their art curriculum to something local this is an opportunity.

Past winners have come from Michigan and The Bahamas, but the contest is also open to students in Wisconsin and Ontario.

Entry deadline is March 10. You can find the rules - and more information, of course - here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/hmnf/home/?cid=fseprd1086167 .

Here's one of last year's winners:

Not bad, eh?

Sorry, adults. The contest is for children. But if you have KW art, we'd love to have you share it with us on our Facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/Kirtlandswarbleralliance.

Sensing trouble?

A Kirtland's Warbler was found in Cape May, New Jersey, yesterday. That's unusual given that the Kirt's usual fall migratory path is from the jack pine to the Carolina coast, where it then makes the jump to The Bahamas.

This morning, the Erie Bird Observatory posted this Tweet about the lack of bird movement in the area along the Atlantic coast where Hurricane Ian was having an impact on the Carolinas.

It makes you wonder if that KW in New Jersey sensed there was trouble ahead, rerouted east, and decided to hang out in the dunes for a couple of day.