Kirtland's warbler

noun

Kirt·​land's warbler ˈkərt-lən(d)z- 

plural Kirtland's warblers

: a rare warbler (Setophaga kirtlandii synonym Dendroica kirtlandii) of northeastern North America that is gray with yellow underparts

Note: Kirtland's warblers breed in Michigan and sometimes Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada and winter in the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos.

Kirtland's warblers are ground-nesters that prefer jack pine stands more than 80 acres in size, where the nest can be concealed in mixed vegetation of grasses and shrubs below the living branches of 5- to 20-year-old trees.

—State News Service

Intensive research determined that two primary factors were causing the decline of the Kirtland's warblers: a lack of suitable nesting habitat and brood parasitism by brown-headed cowbirds.

—Cameron MacDonald

Examples of Kirtland's warbler in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The sunlight helps keep the lower branches alive and bushy, hiding the Kirtland's warbler nest beneath them. —Jalen Williams, Freep.com, 28 July 2025

Just 167 male Kirtland's warblers were documented in the 1980s, according to reporting from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. —Jeanine Santucci, Detroit Free Press, 27 Dec. 2024

Smith: Kirtland's warbler comeback continues, highlighting the possible in conservation USA TODAY contributed to this report. —Alex Groth, Journal Sentinel, 14 Aug. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Jared P. Kirtland †1877 American naturalist

First Known Use

1853, in the meaning defined above