About 1,400 pairs of the tiny yellow-breasted, blue-gray-backed songbirds exist in the world, and the Kirtland's remains an endangered species. As recently as 1987, only 167 singing males were counted. They nest almost exclusively in the jack pine forests of northern Michigan and spend winters in the Bahamas.
The birds were named for Dr. Jared Kirtland, who lived in Lakewood and on whose property the first Kirtland's warbler was collected in 1851. The birds seen last week were the first-ever Kirtland's sightings at Headlands and only the sixth and seventh sightings in Northeast Ohio since 1950, according to "Birds of the Cleveland Region."
http://www.cleveland.com/living/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/living/114794925320200.xml&coll=2
Posted by Dave at May 22, 2006 09:07 AM