Young jack pine. Original public domain image from Flickr
The Kirtland’s warbler is a small songbird that nests in young jack pine forests in northern Michigan, Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada. It requires large stands of young, dense jack pine forest at least 80 acres in size, but prefers stands of 300 to 400 acres, or larger. This warbler has one of the most geographically restricted breeding distributions of any bird in the continental United States. The exact habitat it uses for nesting within jack pine forests is very specific and depends on disturbance, which historically was wildfire. Today, management for Kirtland's warbler habitat emulates the results of wildfire.
Photo by Jim Hudgins/USFWS. Original public domain image from Flickr