This is no time for a victory lap ... The job's not done.

We wake up from our holiday food coma to celebrate because today is the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Endangered Species Act. And even though we should be out getting some exercise after all that food and drink, we can't take anything more than half a victory lap. Allow us to explain.

If it had not been for the Endangered Species Act, it's unlikely we would not be here today to celebrate the accomplishments of the Kirtland's Warbler Recovery Team. The ESA provided money, personnel and (most importantly) a framework to bring the Kirtland's Warbler back from the brink of extinction. It took a little time for the Recovery Team to figure it out, but once the team started building the habitat the KW wanted, the population responded. The result: The Kirtland's Warbler was removed from the Endangered Species List in October 2019.

But there's a flaw with the Endangered Species Act that simply could not have been anticipated back in 1973: Unless something changes, most species on the Endangered Species List are likely to exist there forever. That's because they rely on human intervention for their very survival. Congress designed the Endangered Species Act to be the equivalent of first aid, not life support. Congress did not anticipate that some species would need ongoing support so they failed to set up a mechanism to support recovered species. One of those recovered species that needs that continuing support is our very own Kirtland's Warbler.

The Kirtland's Warbler Recovery Team is often cited as a model for endangered species recovery, and there's a good reason why: About a decade ago the Recovery Team began to look into the future to anticipate where conservation efforts might go. The warbler's population was looking good and the handwriting was on the wall. The ESA would require delisting. The Kirtland's Warbler would be the first conservation reliant species to be removed from the ESL.

So, how do you deal with a recovered species that still needs help? The first step was to create a framework to shift from a recovery team to a conservation team. Unlike a recovery team, a conservation team is not required by law. Nevertheless, it was created as an acknowledgement that we can't just walk away and let the work of the past 50 years slowly reverse itself.

If you've been reading these essays for a while, you know the jack pine ecosystem is fire dependent. Everything that exists in the ecosystem is built to either burn or recover from fire. Unfortunately, there are too many people and too much property for us to allow fire to run across the landscape. So it remains the responsibility of us humans to harvest mature trees 100 acres or more at a time and replant those areas with young jack pine trees, in a specific pattern that mimics the randomness of fire, in order to create acceptable habitat.

So here we sit, 50 years later. The Kirtland's Warbler is no longer considered an endangered species but its future is still far from secure. The sense of urgency was reduced with delisting, and we're starting to see the result. The state and federal agencies responsible for KW conservation have shifted their focus away from the KW, which has allowed the number of new acres planted for the KW to decline. We are now to the point where we are nearly 10,000 acres below habitat goals.

Based on recent developments, it's clear that the agencies know they have created a problem for themselves and are working hard to find solutions. But they don't have a magic wand, which means it's going to take a decade or more to build enough acres to meet their goals. As a result, we can anticipate the KW's population to experience a significant dip in the 2025 census.

So, here we are today with a whole new set of issues. The Kirtland's Warbler Recovery Team was blessed with people who were talented and blessed with equal parts determination and vision. Their work brought us to this point, but now it's up to the Conservation Team, which we are part of, to face a new set of challenges that will take us into the next 50 years.

Half a lap. The job's not done.

A Kirtland's Warbler was found where? Part 2

The lazy days of summer may be over for us humans in the Northern Hemisphere, but for birds, fall is the time to be lazy.

Spring migration is a rush north because there are breeding territories to establish, mates to lure, nests to build and mouths to feed. Fall migration, on the other hand, is a chance to do a little sightseeing.

A couple of weeks ago, we reported on a Kirtland's Warbler being found in migration in a particularly surprising spot -- on a small island off the coast of Maine. Today we bring you another sighting of a Kirtland's Warbler in migration that's not as surprising but, yeah, kinda is.

Last Friday, a Kirtland's Warbler was found in downtown Detroit. It's only the ninth Kirtland's recorded in Wayne County.

The bird spent Friday bopping around the rose garden in front of the Detroit Athletic Club, in the median of Madison Avenue and a block away in Harmonie Park. It was seen again -- by several birders -- on Saturday. Then it disappeared until this morning, when it magically reappeared.

Birders are reporting the KW is actively feeding in the trees along Madison Avenue and East Grand River Avenue. One birder reported it eating yew berries. (Thank you, Andy.)

Let's face it, the streets of downtown Detroit aren't exactly hospitable for migrating birds. There's lots of vehicle traffic and noise. There are lots of parking lots in the area, particularly along Madison. Comerica Park is right around the corner so in the evening there will be lots of activity with people going to Tigers games. The streets are highly lit at night, so it's not exactly a place where a bird can get a good night's sleep. Oh, and there are also rats and Peregrine Falcons to worry about.

But birds are opportunists and for some, downtown Detroit is an oasis. One of our friends used to work in the federal courthouse in downtown Detroit and spent his lunch hours birding up and down Washington Boulevard and Hart Plaza. He'd find all kinds of unusual birds in migration, particularly in the fall.

Hopefully, this Kirtland's will end up enjoying his time in the big city. We hope he stays as long as he wants and has a safe trip to The Bahamas.

And we know that it goes without saying, but we'll say it anyway: Hurry back!

Image (below) of the Detroit Athletic Club from Google Maps.

A Kirtland's Warbler was found ... WHERE?

It's only the second week of September, but the Kirtland's Warblers are on the move. Two have been spotted in the last couple of days. One was in Monroe County, Michigan, just a mile north of the Ohio border. That's not out of the ordinary, but the other? Well...

Most mature Kirtland's Warblers don't leave the jack pine until late September or the first week of October, which just happens to be after the peak of Atlantic hurricane season. But it seems that hatch-year Kirtland's Warblers like to wander the landscape and see the world. You know how those teens are; you can warn them about the dangers of the world, but they won't understand unless they experience them themselves.

That helps to explain the location of the second bird found this week. It was found on -- ready for this? -- Mantinicus Rock, a tiny island that is 25 miles out in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Maine. Mantinicus Rock has a lighthouse, a gravel airfield, a population of 53 people who make their living from the ocean, and now Maine's second recorded sighting of a Kirtland's Warbler. (Many thanks to Katie Stoner for finding this bird.)

We just happen to know a little bit about this area from a previous life hanging around with lobstermen and harbor seals on a nearby island. Mantinicus Rock is not the most remote spot on the coast of Maine, but it's pretty close. Even the Native Americans understood its remoteness. Translated from the local language of the indigenous people, "Mantinicus" means "far out rock."

It's impossible to know the origin of this particular individual. Could it have been hatched in Michigan or Wisconsin and just wandered east? It's ... possible. Could it have been hatched in eastern Ontario near the population that occupies Garrison Petawawa, the Canadian Forces base northwest of Ottawa? That seems more plausible.

More importantly, does this individual know that it has put itself in a pretty bad spot? Does it understand that it needs to turn back toward the mainland? Let's hope. We know the Blackpoll Warbler can jump off the southern coast of New England and fly nonstop to Brazil. Could this young Kirtland's make it all the way from Maine to The Bahamas? That's not likely, particularly with Hurricane Lee soon altering its path northward toward the northeastern U.S. and the Canadian Maritimes.

So, at this point all we can do is hope, wish it safe travels and invoke the advice of Horace Greely: Go west, young bird. Then go south.