Note: The Kansas Wetlands Education Center is open normal summer hours.  Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area and Preserve are open to the public as normal.

Fall migration is slowly progressing.  Fall migrants will continue to show up over the next couple months.  This is a good time of year to plan multiple trips through the wetlands, as things will change weekly or even daily.  Bird activity is still a bit slow at Cheyenne Bottoms, mostly due to the lack of water in several pools.  It appears that many shorebirds are in the area; however, finding easily accessible areas to see them is difficult.  However, that will change soon, as KDWPT staff will plan to begin flooding most pools starting next week.  Common bird sightings right now include herons, egrets, killdeer, blackbirds, gulls, cormorants, pelicans, coots, swallows, meadowlarks, and increasing numbers of ducks.

Many of Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area’s pools have been drained for maintenance and vegetation management.  Pools 3a, 4a, 4b, and 5 are all basically dry at this time.  All storage pools (Pool 1 complex) are full, and Pools 2 and 3b have water.  KDWPT staff plans to begin flooding all pools starting the week of August 24 to prepare for fall and hunting seasons.  Some roads in the state Wildlife Area are rough due to large machinery traveling over them this summer.  ROAD CLOSURE:  The main road through the Nature Conservancy’s Preserve (“Crooked Road” or NE 90 Rd) is currently closed for repairs.

There have been some good reports of many shorebirds at Quivira NWR.  The area north of Big Salt Marsh around the Wildlife Loop and along NE 170^th St. have been very good.  Check out http://fws.gov/refuge/Quivira.

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
• Mallard
• Blue-winged Teal
• Redhead
• Ruddy Duck
• Northern Bobwhite
• Ring-necked Pheasant
• Pied-billed Grebe
• Eurasian Collared Dove
• Mourning Dove
• Common Nighthawk
• Common Gallinule
• American Coot
• Black-necked Stilt
• American Avocet
• Black-bellied Plover
• American Golden Plover
• Snowy Plover
• Semipalmated Plover
• Killdeer
• Upland Sandpiper
• Baird’s Sandpiper
• Least Sandpiper
• Pectoral Sandpiper
• Semipalmated Sandpiper
• Long-billed Dowitcher
• Wilson’s Phalarope
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Greater Yellowlegs
• Willet
• Lesser Yellowlegs
• Franklin’s Gull
• Ring-billed Gull
• Black Tern
• Forster’s Tern
• Double-crested Cormorant
• American White Pelican
• American Bittern
• Least Bittern
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Snowy Egret
• Little Blue Heron
• Cattle Egret
• Green Heron
• Black-crowned Night Heron
• Yellow-crowned Night Heron
• White-faced Ibis
• Turkey Vulture
• Mississippi Kite
• Bald Eagle
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Great Horned Owl
• Belted Kingfisher
• Red-headed Woodpecker
• Downy Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker
• American Kestrel
• Easter Phoebe
• Great-crested Flycatcher
• Western Kingbird
• Eastern Kingbird
• Bell’s Vireo
• Warbling Vireo
• Loggerhead Shrike
• Bluejay
• Horned Lark
• Northern Rough-winged Swallow
• Purple Martin
• Tree Swallow
• Bank Swallow
• Barn Swallow
• Cliff Swallow
• House Wren
• Marsh Wren
• European Starling
• Gray Catbird
• Brown Thrasher
• Northern Mockingbird
• American Robin
• House Sparrow
• House Finch
• American Goldfinch
• Grasshopper Sparrow
• Lark Sparrow
• Yellow-headed Blackbird
• Eastern Meadowlark
• Western Meadowlark
• Baltimore Oriole
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• Common Grackle
• Great-tailed Grackle
• Common Yellowthroat
• Yellow Warbler
• Northern Cardinal
• Dickcissel