It seems that many throughout Ontario and Michigan have taken steps to conserve the Kirtland’s Warbler. However, that may not be so in Tiny Township.
A site on the 9th Concession is home to a pair of these birds that are rare in Ontario. However, the plans to construct an administrative building on the site are making strides. At a Tiny Township Council meeting, Counsellor Dave Brunelle asked when grubbing—or cleaning up the stumps and other debris, is expected on the site. Midland Today,ca stated he was told by Tiny Township Public Works Director Tim Leitch: “Once we have the final layout for the location of the facility, ensuring that we have all the proper setbacks… We’ll have that area surveyed out, staked – and then at that point we’ll be going out for tender for a company to come in and clear the trees, clear the brush and get ourselves ready for the construction prior to the end of March.”
Sadly, the Kirtland’s Warbler, is seldom seen in Ontario. There is a site between Barrie and Angus, where lands were stocked with young Jack Pine, a favored habitat of the Kirkland’s Warbler, and they have seen success. “Several male Kirtland’s Warblers were heard singing in the Packard Tract,” which was formerly degraded railroad land, Kate Harris has reported.
Tree Entomologist Paul Bell, told Midland Today.ca in a letter to the editor, that it was not in the best interests of the town to use that location, because there was land available for “this, glorious pavilion, here, not on the five-acre, gravel lot behind the current town hall. Wait! What?” It seems a prestigious building is more important than saving money.
Even the protests of citizens, like Karen Zulynik, who does not agree that the building was necessary when many staff members spend time working from home, has not helped. She was able to get more than 1700 signatures on petition against the expenditure by Tiny Township Council.
Dr. Bell, on a Facebook post, explained that the citizens were told they might be removed from meetings due to a new by-law – A Citizens Code of Conduct by-law. “Mayor Evans, your bullying of the two women attempting to give deputations at the last public meeting [in January] by raising your voice, stopping them with an arbitrary, made up rule, then threatening to have them removed, (all on video) might be of more concern to you,” he wrote.
It is also odd that the Government of Ontario has published plans for protecting the bird in the “Kirtland’s Warbler government response statement: Ontario’s policy direction for the protection and recovery of Kirtland’s Warbler”, which explains: “Kirtland’s Warbler is listed as an endangered species under the ESA [Endangered Species Act] which protects both the bird and its habitat. The ESA prohibits harm or harassment of the species and damage or destruction of its habitat without authorization.” One might guess that authorization is easy for Tiny Township, in a province spending millions developing the Toronto lakefront land for a new Ontario Place.
In Michigan, “the spunky songbird’s numbers have grown steadily, thanks to rigorous, hands-on management. Its population—always naturally small—blew past the recovery goal of 1,000 pairs back in 2001, & today totals more than 2,300 pairs,” says Audubon Magazine.
Kirtland’s Warbler has been sighted in Petawa, and Kitchener Ontario; but is mostly found in Michigan, and Wisconsin. Before the snow flies, the plucky bird flies to the Caribbean to overwinter.
Sources
Kirtland’s Warbler. (2019, July 22). Audubon Magazine. https://www.audubon.org/news/the-kirtlands-warbler-has-recovered-hard-work-saving-it-will-never-stop
Tiny Township: Community Discussion All Things Council. Jan 27/25 post. Facebook.https://www.facebook.com/groups/1116849569696539/posts/1378100633571430/
‘Nobody wanted the building:’ Tiny Township residents push back on plan to build new administration centre: Petition opposed to new administration centre has reached 1,700 names: Township budgeted $400,000 for 2024 to begin design. (2024, June 18). Midland Mirror. https://www.simcoe.com/news/council/nobody-wanted-the-building-tiny-township-residents-push-back-on-plan-to-build-new-administration/article_676c6eb4-9e3a-5877-a9b0-c61c3e2f61c0.html
Making the Kirtland’s Warbler sing again in the County of Simcoe. (2023, January 10). Preferred By Nature. https://www.preferredbynature.org/news/making-kirtlands-warbler-sing-again-county-simcoe
LETTER: Tiny admin build site home to pair of at-risk species. (2025, February 11). Midland Today.ca. https://www.midlandtoday.ca/letters-to-the-editor/letter-tiny-admin-build-site-home-to-pair-of-at-risk-species-10213268
Tiny admin site construction moves closer to becoming reality. (2025, January 11). Midland Today.ca. https://www.midlandtoday.ca/local-news/tiny-admin-site-construction-moves-closer-to-becoming-reality-10057982
Kirtland’s Warbler government response statement: Ontario’s policy direction for the protection and recovery of Kirtland’s Warbler. (2017, September 12). Government of Ontario. https://www.ontario.ca/page/kirtlands-warbler-government-response-statement
Kirtland’s warbler. (2024, November 26). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirtland%27s_warbler
Kirtland’s warbler (Setophaga kirtlandii) : Enhancement and Restoration of Habitat for the Kirtland’s warbler – Packard Tract. (2025). Ganawenim Meshkiki: Henvey Inlet First Nation to protect Herptile and Bird Species at Risk on the Eastern Georgian Bay Coastline. https://ganawenim.ca/portfolio/enhancement-and-restoration-of-habitat-for-the-kirtlands-warbler/
Desperately seeking territory: the Kirtland’s Warbler. (2023, March 3). Jaggyblog: Kate Harris. https://www.returnofthenative.ca/about/jaggyblog/desperately-seeking-territory-the-kirtland-s-warblerBottom of Form
The First Breeding Record of Kirtland’s Warbler in Ontario by Doris Huestis Speirs. (1984, October 2). Sora.unm.edu, 80-84,Vol 2 Number 2. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/80-84%2520OB%2520Vol2%25232%2520Oct1984.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjIk5O478uLAxXHg4kEHR74JngQFnoECA4QAQ&usg=AOvVaw0WRYwWkC6SOBZC3EyLur-v1984.pdf