LANSING
One of Michigan’s most rare, iconic and celebrated bird species is the Kirtland’s warbler. Nearly extinct in the 1970s, decadeslong, targeted conservation efforts helped their population rebound.
In 2019, the bird was taken off the federal endangered species list, and a 2021 census reported a population of a little more than 2,000 breeding pairs.
But this year’s census revealed something conc…