This June we will travel 4.5 hours north to Grayling, Michigan to camp at Hartwick Pines State Park. Hartwick Pines is a well-known home to the Kirtland's Warbler. In the mid 1970's the Kirtland’s Warbler was on the brink of extinction due to the lack of its very specific breeding habitat need (large stands of jack pine forest) and nest parasitization from the Brown-headed Cowbird. Conservation efforts, which included careful habitat management, have helped this species rebound. The result of these efforts made it possible to remove the Kirtland's Warbler from the endangered species list in 2019.

Michigan Audubon leads daily tours from Hartwick Pines to see the Kirtland’s Warbler. These tours last 2.5 to 3 hours and cost $10.

We plan on arriving Friday afternoon, June 9, 2023, and taking a tour on Saturday morning, then staying over Saturday night and leaving Sunday afternoon, June 11th. Reserve your campsite for June 9th and 10th .

The window for campsite reservations opens six months in advance. If you plan to go, I encourage you to make a reservation immediately after the window opens, which will be on or about December 9, 2022. The campground fills up quickly. After you’ve made your reservation, please send me a text or email telling me the number of your site. I will also need a head count for the tour.

The link below will take you to campground reservations: https://midnrreservations.com/ For hotel/motel reservations I would suggest using a site like hotels.com and looking for lodging near Grayling, Michigan.

For any of you deciding to stay in a hotel we will keep in contact and designate a meetup place for you. Please send your contact information to me via email.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at fieldtrips@sbeaudubon.org or (574) 276-7249 (text is best). Hope to see you in June.