We returned this year to the MDNR Riethmiller grassland in search of summer prairie birds. Coming off the disappointing West Lake trip I was hoping we’d have better sightings at this reliable location. 

Greeting us at about 9AM was an immature Turkey Vulture which flew in and landed on the large tree at the entrance.  

The trail out of the parking lot had not been mowed all season so it was a bit wet and sometimes hard to find the hardened area to walk.  But right out of the gate, literally, we started hearing a Henslow’s Sparrow.  It took a while to get a good look, but then we got really good looks.  During the walk multiple individuals came up high on shrubs and other vegetation. In addition, they came very close to us and perched for long times-not the usual 500 milliseconds. So all of our group was able to get great looks at these sparrows.  We observed 3 individuals during the walk.

Henslow's Sparrow (Centronyx henslowii) (Don Henise)

Another secretive species we observed were Sedge Wren.  We heard them calling early in the walk but did not get any looks until father along the trail.  We came upon a young family of 3 juveniles and a parent.  The little ones had not yet been schooled in maintaining a safe distance from us upright bipeds.  They came within a couple of yards from us just off trail. 

Sedge Wren (Cistothorus stellaris) (Don Henise)

The grassland was also very active with swallow species, and we were able to tally 4 species for the morning, predominately Tree and Barn.

White-faced meadow hawk (Brenda Wineman)

We continued the walk through the grasslands and down toward the marsh area to the east.  Some of our group broke off and the rest of us plowed through the marsh.  We did not get much activity there and then called it a day.

(Steve Jerant)

In all, we recorded 31 species, all but 7 being songbirds.  Noticeably absent was Eastern Meadowlark, which is normally a reliable bird on these annual tours.

eBird Checklist available at https://ebird.org/checklist/S382404226