Kirtland warbler

"Monument to the Kirtland Warbler" in Mio, Michigan - apparently a stop on the birdwatching circuit. The bird nests exclusively in that state's northern jack pine forests, and then winters in the Caribbean. They nearly went extinct in the 1980s due to habitat loss, but careful stewardship has brought the population back up from 400 to 4000. The tiny songbird is named after Jared Potter Kirtland (1793-1877), a doctor and naturalist from Wallingford, CT who emigrated to Ohio's Western Reserve in 1803. Ohio was originally a colony of Connecticut, and although it attained statehood that year, it was still a wild frontier and there was plenty of new material to keep the doctor occupied. So there you have it. (Postcards courtesy my late Aunt Lana, who apparently went to Mio, MI).