Summer conditions have been prevalent at the wetlands over the last few weeks.  Temperatures have been in the upper 90’s to 100’s for over 2 weeks.  Surprisingly, even with the extreme heat, bird activity on the marsh has been relatively good.  

Pools were seeing some drying until a storm on June 17 dumped approximately 1.25-2.00 inches of rain in the area.  Storage pools at Cheyenne Bottoms are full.  This stored water will be much appreciated later on in the year.  The only down side to the water levels is that KDWPT staff have not been able to work in many of the pools to control vegetation and plant food plots.

Herons, egrets, ducks, avocets, cormorants, pelicans, and terns are the dominant birds of the summer at Cheyenne Bottoms and are being seen most days even during the heat of the afternoon.  Many ducks are probably on nests.  Grassland nesting birds also should be plentiful in the areas surrounding the wetlands if you care to check them out. 

Give us your reports.  We rely heavily on other birders to know what is being seen at Cheyenne Bottoms.  Submit reports to Ebird, or email your observations to wetlandscenter@fhsu.edu.

Here is a list birds that have been reported over the last couple weeks:

• Canada Goose
• Wood Duck-1 drake seen in the inlet canal on 6/23
• Mallard–quite a few pairs area wide 
• Blue-winged Teal–probably the most abundant duck currently
• Green-winged Teal
• Northern Shoveler
• Northern Pintail
• Redhead–seems quite abundant
• Ruddy Ducks-relatively abundant especially in Pool 1a and 1b
• Ring-necked Pheasant
• Eared Grebe–one reported 6/22
• Double-crested Cormorant–area-wide but many can be found basking on 2 islands in Pool 4a
• Neotropic Cormorant–1 pair on a prominent nest seen on the same island in Pool 4a as seen the last 2 years 
• American White Pelican–a group of about 60 seen relatively frequently in Pool 2
• American Bittern
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Snowy Egret
• Cattle Egret
• Green Heron
• Black-crowned Night Heron
• Yellow-crowned Night Heron
• Turkey Vulture
• Bald Eagle
• Northern Harrier
• Red-tailed Hawk
• American Coot
• King Rail–one individual reported calling on 6/22
• Snowy Plover–quite numerous with many young
• Killdeer–Many area-wide
• Black-necked Stilt–not abundant, but usually see small groups in various areas
• American Avocet–quite abundant area wide
• Stilt Sandpiper–a group of several birds noted in Pool 4a
• Lesser Yellowlegs–5-8 birds seen several times in Pool 4a
• Dunlin–one bird reported on 6/23
• Upland Sandpiper  
• Franklin’s Gull– several large flocks of Franklin’s on and near the Bottoms
• Ring-billed Gull
• Black Tern
• Least Tern
• Forster’s Tern
• Mourning Dove
• Common Nighthawk
• Great Horned Owl  
• Red-headed Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker   
• American Kestrel
• Western Kingbird
• Eastern Kingbird
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher–a pair seen several times this week near the KWEC Nature Trail
• Horned Lark
• Tree Swallow
• Northern Rough-winged Swallow
• Bank Swallow
• Cliff Swallow 
• Barn Swallow
• House Wren 
• Brown Thrasher
• Lark Bunting
• Grasshopper Sparrow
• Dickcissel
• Eastern Meadowlark
• Western Meadowlark 
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Yellow-headed Blackbird
• Great-tailed Grackle
• Orchard Oriole
• Baltimore Oriole
• Common Grackle
• Brown-headed Cowbird