Riethmiller Rd. Grassland   07/01/2025

(Steve Jerant)

We did our Riethmiller Rd. grassland tour one week later due to the heat dome that covered the upper Midwest the week before.  During our walk the temperatures were only the high 70’s with good sun and a constant breeze to keep us cool and the biting flies at bay.

This site can be very productive, but we generally walk about a quarter of a mile one way.  It is likely the ‘slowest’ tour that we do.  Field & Song Sparrows welcomed us to the grassland and Eastern Meadowlarks followed.  They called throughout the walk. We heard whispers of Henslow’s but they did now show themselves.

The walk continued into the wet area of the trail to the northwest as it links up to the Hoffman Trail.  The water was unusually high for the season and higher than it is in spring.  Here we got Marsh Wren, Swamp Sparrow, and Yellow-eyed Vireo.  Returning to the east we heard the Henslow’s again but no visuals.  At the turn the Northern Harrier that I saw last week while scouting returned and he (first year male) hung around for a while for all of us to get a good, out of season view of this low flying hunter.  He seemed nonplussed by the mobbing of Red-winged Blackbirds.
Black-eyed Susan (Brenda Wineman)

Northern Harrier  (Don Henise)

Near the end of the walk, we finally got a sighting of a flying and briefly perched Henslow’s Sparrow.  The species total was 29.

Henslow's Sparrow (Don Henise)

Eastern Meadowlark (Don Henise)

Eastern Kingbird (Brenda Wineman)

Our eBird checklist is available below including Don Henise’s pictures of some of his other winged friends.

https://ebird.org/checklist/S255931875

Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella)

Widow Skimmer (Libellula luctuosa)

Baltimore Checkerspot (Euphydryas phaeton)

Banded Hairstreak (Satyrium calanus)

Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis)