Michigan residents lose homes to birds

From The Saginaw News:

Although an Iosco County forest fire destroyed a handful of homes Sunday, every charred jack pine tree will create a new home for a species of endangered bird.

The existence of the Kirtland's warbler is a battle between Mother Nature and Smokey the Bear, experts say: The flames destroy one species' home while creating another's favorite habitat.


"A fire is devastating to the people who live out there, and it looks awful with all the smoke and black," said Ed P. De Vries, assistant manager of the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge.

"But it actually improves the habitat for the Kirtland's warbler."

Kirtland's warblers, which the federal government listed as an endangered species in 1967, have made jack pine trees in Michigan's Lower Peninsula their only consistent nesting and breeding grounds.

Kirtland's Warbler courtesy of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service