Spring Migration is winding down some, but not over yet.

Bird sightings seem to vary with time of day and water conditions across the area.  Mornings and evenings are seeing the best bird activity as opposed to during the middle of the day.  Many of the public pools at Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area (Pools 2, 3a, 3b, 4a, and 4b) are being dewatered in order for KDWPT staff to conduct vegetation and habitat management this summer.  Most of these pools have pockets of water, but some are more easily viewable from the roads than others.

Shorebird numbers and diversity has declined a bit over the last couple weeks as many of the shorebirds have already moved through and accessible mudflat habitats have been limited.

Common birds to see right now include: Canada Geese (many with young), Ducks (mostly Blue-winged Teal, Mallards, and Ruddy Ducks, but a few other species can be found too), American coots, 100’s of Pelicans, Gulls (Ring-billed and Franklins), Terns (Black and Forster’s), Great Blue Herons, Egrets (Great, Snowy, and Cattle), American Avocets, Black-necked stilts, White-faced Ibis, various shorebirds (mostly Killdeer, Spotted sandpipers, Least sandpipers, White-rumped sandpipers, and Yellowlegs), and black-birds.

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
• Gadwall
• Mallard
• Blue-winged Teal
• Green-winged Teal
• Redhead
• Ruddy Duck
• Ring-necked Pheasant
• Wild Turkey
• Pied-billed Grebe
• Western Grebe–as many as 14 seen in a couple locations
• Mourning Dove
• American Coot
• Black-necked Stilt
• American Avocet
• Black-bellied Plover
• Snowy Plover
• Killdeer
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Greater Yellowlegs
• Upland Sandpiper
• Ruddy Turnstone
• Least Sandpiper
• White-rumped Sandpiper
• Stilt Sandpiper
• Semipalmated Sandpiper
• Franklin’s Gull
• Ring-billed Gull
• Least Tern
• Black Tern
• Forster’s Tern
• Neotropic Cormorant
• Double-crested Cormorant
• American White Pelican
• American Bittern
• Least Bittern
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Snowy Egret
• Cattle Egret
• Black-crowned Night Heron
• Glossy Ibis
• White-faced Ibis
• Turkey Vulture
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Burrowing Owl
• Red-headed Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker
• American Kestrel
• Eastern Phoebe
• Great Crested Flycatcher
• Western Kingbird
• Easter Kingbird
• Scissortailed Flycatcher
• Bluejay
• Tree Swallow
• Northern Rough-winged Swallow
• Bank Swallow
• Cliff Swallow
• Barn Swallow
• House Wren
• American Robin
• Brown Thrasher
• European Starling
• House Sparrow
• American Goldfinch
• Common Yellowthroat
• Yellow Warbler
• Lark Sparrow
• Grasshopper Sparrow
• Northern Cardinal
• Dickcissel
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Yellow-headed Blackbird
• Eastern Meadowlark
• Western Meadowlark
• Yellow-headed Blackbird
• Common Grackle
• Great-tailed Grackle
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• Orchard Oriole
• Baltimore Oriole