Just A Chirp

Grosse Pointe Audubon Winter 2018

Kirtand’s Warbler Update

From the president:
You have probably heard me say at a meeting last
year that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has
been making noise about taking the Kirtland’s
Warbler off the Endangered Species List
sometime in the future. Well, in a move that
surprised nearly everybody, late last year the
agency announced that it would take the first step
to delist the warbler in 2018. Even though that
announcement was a surprise and conservation
efforts are still required, I am here to say that
there is no reason to panic.
Yes, the warbler’s population is still small. Today,
that population stands at 4,000 individuals and is
still growing. But we’ve come a long way since
1987 when the population was somewhere around
400 birds. That slow and steady growth has
allowed the breeding population to expand to
Wisconsin and there may even be a few birds
breeding in far eastern Ontario. (The bird is
regularly found on Canadian Forces Base
Petawawa near Ottawa but biologists are unable to
monitor the population because the military
facility is off limits.)
Then there’s the concern about cowbird trapping
and cost of creating new habitat. First, the
cowbird population is in steep decline across
eastern North America and the cowbird is not
having the impact on the warbler’s population as
it once did. In fact, a study conducted last summer
by Nathan Cooper, PhD, of the Smithsonian
Migratory Bird Center showed that a significant
cutback on cowbird trapping efforts had no
negative impact on the Kirtland’s Warbler
More on Page 2

Winter Schedule
  Cut out this schedule and put it on your refrigerator to help you remember
these important dates.

Jan. 22 — Abby Lane from the Clinton River Watershed Council will join us to talk about how
native plants help to keep the water in our streams, rivers and lakes clean.
Feb. 26 — Tom Hince presents “Walking in the Footsteps of Birding Giants.” This May, Point
Pelee will celebrate its 100th anniversary as a national park. In the early 20th century, Percy
Taverner and William Saunders painstakingly documented the spectacle of migration on Lake
Erie's north shore. Without their vision, passion and determination, the peninsula would
instead be wall-to-wall cottages. Join us as we walk in their footsteps and thank them for the
many that have followed in the last century.
March 19 — Mark O’Keefe presents “Ecuador: Tandayapa Valley and Galapagos Islands.”
Ecuador is the size of Wyoming but has more bird species than the USA, Canada, and all of
Europe combined. O’Keefe will feature Tandayapa Valley, which is full of beautiful tanagers,
hummingbirds, and many other species of birds.

PAGE 1
 JUST A CHIRP
From The President, from Page 1
negative impact on the Kirtland’s Warbler
reproduction success rate.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife
Services Division will continue to monitor
cowbird populations in the jack pine, and if
trapping becomes necessary, the
Michigan DNR can ramp up
efforts quickly. And both the DNR
and the U.S. Forest Service have
become party to a new
conservation plan and have signed
a memorandum of understanding
that commits each party to
continue to create new habitat.
The warbler has one other layer to
its safety net: The Endangered
Species Act requires that the Fish
and Wildlife Service monitor the
population of any species that is
removed from the Endangered
Species List for a period of five years. If for some
reason the agency discovers the population going
into a rapid decline there is a provision in the ESA
that allows the Kirtland’s Warbler to again receive
endangered species status and protection on an
emergency basis.
Even though the agencies have committed to
continuing on-the-ground conservation work to
keep the jack pine habitat healthy, the big issue is
money. When endangered species protections are
ended, federal dollars from Washington will be
withdrawn. That is where the Kirtland’s Warbler
Alliance comes in. The Alliance was established
in 2012 as an organization that will help ensure
the future of the Kirtland’s Warbler by raising
money, establishing a $4 million endowment, and
using the funds generated to help fund that
conservation.
WINTER 2018
(Full disclosure: Your president is the secretary of
the Kirtland’s Warbler Alliance, the chair of its
communications committee, and is a member of
the Kirtland’s Warbler Conservation Team’s
Steering Committee. Please, someone tie his
hands behind my back so he can never volunteer
for anything ever again!)
There are multiple challenges
ahead. Many of my biologist
friends on the Kirtland’s Warbler
Conservation Team say that the
issues surrounding the warbler’s
future are much more complex
than those of the typical
endangered species. There are
issues with jack pine rotation and
more people moving into the
habitat. Finally, there is the issue
of passion. The Kirtland’s Warbler
is an icon of Michigan wildlife.
People love the Kirtland’s Warbler
and believe that any species with a
total population of only 4,000 is still deserving of
protection. But I believe the science is sound, and
biologists who have been working on the
warbler’s conservation believe the time is right
and the decision is rational.
Feel free to give me a shout if you have any
questions or concerns. If I can’t answer them, I
probably know somebody who can. Federal law
requires that the status change include a public
comments period so people can make their
concerns known to the Fish and Wildlife Service.
I will try to let you know when that gets
scheduled.
Most importantly, if you’re in the field and hear
from other birders who believe the decision is
shortsighted, assure them there is more to the
story and refer them to me or the Kirtland’s
Warbler Alliance website at kirtlandswarbler.org.
PAGE 2
 JUST A CHIRP
Our meetings!
I am looking forward to seeing you all again on
Jan. 22 at our first meeting of 2018. The speaker
that night will be Abigail Lane from the Clinton
River Watershed Council. She will be speaking
about using native plants to improve water quality.
Even though we have had several recent speakers
come into talk about native plants, Lane is going
to tie the use of those plants to keeping our
streams, rivers, and lakes clean. It will be a timely
talk since the cities of Grosse Pointe Farms and
Grosse Pointe Shores are looking at replacing the
aging break wall with a softer shoreline and are
considering using native plants in the subsequent
landscaping. For a list of speakers and topics, see
the schedule on Page 1 of the newsletter. Do not
forget that I am always looking for ideas for
speakers. Please don’t be shy!
Results from Anchor Bay CBC
The results from the 2017 Anchor Bay Christmas
Bird Count are in and … drum roll please …
despite cold temperatures and a frozen lake
participants tallied 102 species! Every CBC
usually returns a surprise or two, and this recent
effort was no different. Participants counted four
rare birds—American Woodcock, Brewer’s
Blackbird, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Iceland Gull
—and one list-buster, a single Cackling Goose!
The Anchor Bay count has the reputation as being
the best count in Michigan—it usually leads the
state in most species and individuals—and it looks
like the 2017 count was no different.
Crows apologize. Who knew?
Researchers in Germany recently made a
surprising discovery about European Carrion
Crows—they apologize to one another after a
disagreement. The researchers at the Max Planck
Institute for Ornithology put crows in a cage in
order to find out if crows that were unfamiliar
with one another were more aggressive toward
each other than crows who were familiar to each
WINTER 2018
other or who had family bonds. Food was
delivered to two crows in a way that was intended
to make them aggressive toward one another.
What they found out was a real surprise.
Aggressive crows that did not know each other
prior to the confrontation “made up” after the
meal. The bird that had been more aggressive
sought out the more passive bird and “apologized”
by touching and preening the other.
Bird Walks at the Ford House
Because of construction at the Edsel and Eleanor
Ford House, there will be no bird walks in
January and February. Bird walks are scheduled
for March 10 and April 14. As always, the walks
will be led by Rosann Kovalcik. Make a
reservation at 313-884-4222. There is a fee.
Spring Fling
The annual Whitefish Point Bird Observatory
gathering is scheduled for April 28-29. As of right
now, I don’t know who is scheduled to speak.
That shouldn’t matter. Just go.
Birds and art in … Toledo
If you are headed to Ohio for the Biggest Week,
stop by the Toledo Museum of Art’s exhibition of
the paintings of Alexander Wilson, the man who is
considered the father of American Ornithology. In
1808 Wilson began publishing his three-volume
book, American Ornithology; or The Natural
History of the Birds of the United States. John
James Audubon credited Wilson’s book as the
inspiration for his much better known Birds of
America. For more information on dates and
times, see http://www.toledomuseum.org/
exhibition.
Pay your dues
Start your new year with good karma: PAY YOUR
DUES. You don’t want bad karma following you
the rest of the year, do you? Okay, then that’s
settled.
PAGE 3
 JUST A CHIRP WINTER 2018

About Grosse Pointe Audubon

Bill Rapai, president, (313) 885-6502 or BRapai@aol.com

Mark O’Keefe, vice president, (313) 884-7472 or imokruok2@aol.com
Trina Bresser Matous, treasurer, tbressler@aol.com
Anna Wuerfel, secretary, anna.wuerfel@att.net
Board of Directors: Mike Florian, Joanna Pease
Joanna Pease, representative to Seven Ponds Nature Center, strixvaria@sbcglobal.net
Edward McHale, Facebook chief

Go to www.gpaudubon.blogspot.com for an online copy of Just A Chirp, membership

form, rules for the G.P. Birding Challenge in the spring, and more.
 
Keep up with other Grosse Pointe birders (and Like us) on Facebook!
 
Grosse Pointe Audubon meets in the Annex of the Pointe Unitarian Church at 17150 Maumee,
between St. Clair and Neff in Grosse Pointe. Social hour starts at 7 p.m. and the meeting starts at
7:30. Our meetings are free and open to all, so bring a friend!

Grosse Pointe Audubon

443 St. Clair
Grosse Pointe, MI 48230