For our second grassland tour of the summer JAS visited the Watkins Lake SP and Preserve.  There was plenty of room on the wide trails for the 15 birders who went on the walk.  While a bit warm, we did have a light breeze to keep it comfortable.  The first half of the morning we walked the very upland grasslands on the western State Park side of the property.  We all heard, but only a few of us actually saw, Henslow's Sparrows.  Fortunately, the Bobolink and Eastern Meadowlark were not so shy. 

Moving to the east we walked to the Washtenaw County park section of the trails.  This is a lovely part of the park with open views to wetlands to the north and grasslands to the south.  It leads into a wooded area that leads to a high meadow with a great view of the surrounding countryside.

(Steve Jerant)

We spent a good bit of time trying to get a view of a Yellow-breasted Chat.  He definitely was not going to cooperate and only 1 or 2 folks got a brief flash of a view.

(Brenda Wineman) 

Even though that little guy wasn't cooperating (perhaps he's still a bit upset about getting kicked out of the warbler family) we had a wonderful tour on a bright summer day.

Species count was 37, see the eBird Trip report  for details.