We all know why they got the honor: Because when you see one, you know spring is here.
Don’t get me wrong, these red-breasted thrushes are fun to watch. They fly around with worms hanging out of their mouths. They’re distinct enough that everyone can identify them, and who hasn’t found a tightly built nest with a few baby-blue eggs?
They’re good as birds go, but they aren’t unique enough to be Michigan’s state bird.
If we are to rebuild our state’s culture, we need to focus on the things that only we have, and every state has robins.
Their common name is literally the “American Robin.” They live year-round all over the U.S., from Anchorage to Miami and from Boston to San Diego. It’s literally the most common bird in North America.
Robins are also the state bird for Connecticut and Wisconsin. Isn’t having the same as them a little lame for Michigan’s brand?
We need a better symbol for our one-of-a-kind state. My suggestion? Kirtland’s warbler.
This small yellow-breasted songbird can only be found in the jack pine forests of Northern Michigan in the summer. Nowhere else in America can you hear its song. They winter in the Bahamas, but given that many robins winter in Mexico, we won’t hold that against them.
The survival of Kirtland’s warbler is one of Michigan’s great conservation achievements. There have never been many of these birds, and the intense logging and large fires of the 19th century greatly reduced their number.
In 1967, they became an endangered species. To bring their numbers back up, the state began a program of trapping cowbirds, which have a bad habit of stealing warbler nests. The various pine-logging interests in Northern Michigan also took pains to coordinate harvests so as not to disturb warbler habitat too much.
The bird has since rebounded from only about 167 breeding pairs in 1987 to 2,300 pairs today.
Birders already celebrate our warbler by flocking to Grayling and Mio each summer for a glimpse. Roscommon even has an annual festival dedicated to this tiny songbird, with a bird-banding demonstration and trips out into the jack pine forests.
Let’s throw Kirtland’s warbler up on the list of state symbols. It’s a bird that only Michiganders get to take pride in.
Mark Naida is editor of Michigan Enjoyer.
