No guarantees, but biologists forecast good chances of spotting KW

 
By AMY MAHAFFY

If Jerry Weinrich has his, way it will be 65 degrees, sunny and calm for this year’s Kirtland’s Warbler Festival.

For three decades, Weinrich, the retired Michigan DNR ornithologist, has been taking birders out to view the Kirtland’s warbler. So he has a fair idea what kind of weather they like to hop onto a jack pine branch and start crooning for a mate.

The tours are the highlight of the Festival, which allows birders the chance to see the Warbler and to learn a little bit about the habitat as well. Birders come from all over for a chance to see the bird and the tour is the best chance for that to happen.

In recent years, the tours have grown so popular that the Festival is adding a second day. Upwards of 400 people went on tours at three separate times last year, but the mid-day tour – which involved the largest number of birders – had little success seeing the warbler.

So this year, the Festival has eliminated the mid-day tour Saturday while adding two earlier tours on Sunday.

The tours will run at 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. Early morning is the best time to be able to see the Warbler. Each tour will last about two hours, hopefully long enough to let people see the Warbler.

Each tour is guided by a wildlife biologist who rides along and describes the management of the habitat and the brown-headed cowbirds that threaten the Warbler. Among the biologists joining Weinrich on the tours: Mike DiCapita and Chris Mensing, both from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Phil Huber, from the U.S. Forest Service; and Mike Petrucha, of the DNR.

By adding a second day of tours, Festival organizers to create smaller, more manageable groups that will be more enjoyable for birders and give them the opportunity to ask questions. The groups will be led into areas restricted to vehicles and walk them through the habitat to see the Warbler.

Birders can also expect to see the occasional Nashville warbler, as well as blue jays, robins and thrashers. They may even see a deer or two. Most in the early tours last year saw the Kirtland’s warbler. Few in the mid-day tour saw the Kirtland’s warbler, but most heard it.

“There’s never a 100 percent guarantee, but we will certainly try our best,” Weinrich said about seeing the Warbler. The biologists try very hard to make sure that the tour-goers see the bird, but they cannot control the weather or the Warbler.

Like last year, the KWF has contracted school buses to move people to and from the habitat. The vehicles are equipped with public address systems so the biologists will be able to answer questions.

“It’s always fun to have that many people interested,” Weinrich said about the amount of people who come on the tours.

The U. S. Forest Service also runs tours through the habitats and they kick off on Friday, May 14. For more information, contact the Mio Ranger District at (989) 826-3252.