freee Ue) ets OON be st) aa ea N 15 
Kalkaska, then eat the year’s 
owth of buds while the growers 
y to pull a plastic bag over the 
p of each tree.” 
Dumfounded, I ask, “Why, then, 
yes the government attempt to 
crease their numbers as an en- 
ingered species?” 
“Just an example of what the 
mservationists can accomplish at 
e expense of the tree grower!” 
“What does this Kirtland’s 
arbler look like anyway?” I ask 
nocently. 
“Oh, about the size of a robin— 
s a pretty bird.” 
I retreat—with confused visions 
giant warblers and_ plastic- 
vated jack-pines. 
Friday evening, excursions a- 
und the Hartwick Pines area 
-oduce no further information and 
>) naturalist. However, a Satur- 
ay morning visit to Grayling’s 
ity Hall nets a detailed map of 
rawford County pinpointing a 
irtland’s warbler area (unfor- 
nately in a “restricted” artillery 
ange zone) and advice on obtain- 
ig a permit to visit one of the 
ate’s Kirtland’s Warbler Manage- 
lent Areas. 
mmce a trip to one of the 
lanagement Areas appears un- 
voidable, I prolong the deser- 
on of my family, drive 30 miles 
ast to Mio, pick up the permit 
nd a reprint of “The Bird Worth 
. Forest Fire’”—Audubon, Novem- 
er-December, 1964, at the Depart- 
vent of Conservation office, and 
roceed immediately to the Mack 
ake Management Area, nine 
liles southeast of Mio. This pro- 
ising advance grinds to a screech- 
1g halt as an hour’s exploration 
f likely-looking jack-pine thickets 
imns up nothing but redwings and 
a mourning dove. Returning to 
pacify my stranded campers, I find 
that the artillery range, 10 miles 
east of Hartwick Pines, is appar- 
ently not in use, hence open to 
visitors, but I hear no _ birdsong 
while passing through the edge 
Obelts 
Later Saturday, the park natur- 
alist visits each campsite to extend 
an invitation to the evening nature 
program. I pose my question. “Too 
late in the season!” he says. “you'll 
never find them now.” Kirtland’s 
warblers have been quite active, 
he reports, in the general area of 
the artillery range, but the Craw- 
ford County map is misleading in 
showing only one small location. 
Probably some Kirtland’s warblers 
were seen there when the map was 
first sketched, but by now the 
habitat may no longer be suitable. 
So much for that! Enough time 
having been squandered on this 
wild goose chase (dare I say “wild 
warbler chase’’?), we must depart 
for the Upper Peninsula Sunday 
morning. 
Sunday morning I awake ear- 
lier than the others to the usual 
recital by crows, blue jays, and 
chipping sparrows, and decide to 
steal away for one last brief look. 
For want of a more promising 
destination, I head back to the 
small circle allotted to Kirkland’s 
warblers by the Crawford County 
drafting department. At the north- 
western boundary (intersection of 
Grayling-Jones Lake Road and 
Stephan Bridge Road), I risk a 
primitive truck trail heading 
southeast toward the center of the 
circle. 
As if by special arrangement 
with Crawford County, no sooner 
have I crossed the circled bound- 
