Birds with high-tech backpacks bring back info

By LINDSAY DUNBAR
Capital News Service
LANSING – Endangered birds in Michigan are sporting tiny locator backpacks to help determine how they get to their winter homes. During the summer, Kirtland’s warblers nest only in certain areas of Michigan, Wisconsin and Ontario, according to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). In Michigan, they are found in 13 counties, from Lake Huron west to Kalkaska County and from Presque Isle County south to Ogemaw County. During the winter they migrate south to the Bahamas. The question is, how do they get there?

Osprey rebound in Southeast Michigan as researchers track migration

By EVAN KREAGER
Capital News Service
LANSING — There are at least 50 breeding osprey pairs in southern Michigan, up from a single nest some two decades ago. That’s seven years ahead of a goal to have 30 pairs in the area. Nests are spread across counties in the southern part of the state. And the birds are on the move. One of them named Monroe Spark recently reached Cuba.