THE Kirtland's Warbler, Dendroica kirtlandii, was discovered on May 13, 1851, when a migrant was taken at Cleveland, Ohio.The first nest was located on July 8, 1903, near Red Oak, Oscoda County, Michigan.Every nest found subsequently has been within 60 miles of the first.In winter, the bird is known only in the Bahama Islands.We do not know with certainty whether there are more or fewer today than in former years.However, our scanty clues suggest that there may have been a substantially larger population in the 70's, 80's, and 90's of the last century.In that era, collectors in the Bahamas seemed to have little difficulty in gathering specimens on most of the larger islands, but Josselyn Van Tyne and I were unable to find any Kirtland's Warblers on New Providence and Eleuthera, two of the islands formerly most productive, during a five-week stay there in January and February, 1949. METHODIn the case of most species of songbirds the task of counting all the singing males would be formidable.But with Kirtland's Warbler this project seemed feasible because of several favorable circumstances:
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Harold Mayfield (1953) studied this question.