Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Wisconsin Wildlife
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

The population of the federally endangered Kirtland’s Warbler has stabilized over the last 5 years around 1800 singing males, nearly double the population goal of 1000 males targeted in the 1976 Recovery Plan. As a result of this biological recovery, the species has expanded into new breeding areas and the USFWS is compiling information for potential delisting of this “conservation-reliant” species. However, evaluating how the species is using these new habitats and assessing how climate change might affect conservation of Kirtland’s warbler has not been done. This project is a collaboration across the USGS Wisconsin Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Forest Service Northern Research Station, and state natural resource managers in the Midwest. A population viability assessment will be developed by linking how Kirtland’s Warbler survivorship and productivity will be altered from changing climate conditions (i.e., drought) and changing habitat availability and distribution.