Kirtland's warbler

Volunteers and conservation groups and agencies are in the jack pine forests this week, counting the Kirtland's warbler which almost went extinct in the 1980s because of loss of habitat.

The Environmental Law and Policy Center says it successfully requested changes to a pipeline company's right-of-way renewal permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The species' hyper-specific jack pine habitat was in the path of the ice storm, but DNR officials say it was left mostly unscathed.

IPR’s first-ever State Bird CAWcus in Traverse City turned out a clear favorite to be Michigan’s state bird.

There are efforts to change from the American robin, which is also the state bird of Wisconsin and Connecticut.

Environmentalists will celebrate the return of the Kirtland’s warbler this weekend.The small songbird has been on the brink of extinction since 1973. It…