Recent Bird Sightings - July 15
Date: 07/15/2020
Note: The Kansas Wetlands Education Center is open normal summer hours. Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area and Preserve are open to the public as normal.
Summer birding is still the norm right now. However, there were signs in the last week that some of the first returning migrant shorebirds may have arrived. They are right on time, as most years we see some shorebirds around the middle of July. These are probably birds that either did not breed or had early nest failures on their breeding grounds. They are getting a jump on their southerly migration. We will not see the majority of Fall migrant shorebirds until August and September. Bird activity is still a bit slow at Cheyenne Bottoms especially during hot, dry days. Mornings and evenings are the best times to be out searching for birds. Common bird sightings include herons, egrets, killdeer, blackbirds, gulls, pelicans, coots, swallows, meadowlarks, and orioles.
Many of Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area’s pools have been drained for work later this Summer. 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. Rains in the last week may have some roads around Cheyenne Bottoms a little messy, but most roads should be passable. 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.
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
- Northern Pintail
- Redhead
- Ruddy Duck
- Northern Bobwhite
- Ring-necked Pheasant
- Wild Turkey
- Pied-billed Grebe
- Western Grebe
- Clark’s Grebe
- Eurasian Collared Dove
- Mourning Dove
- Common Nighthawk
- Common Gallinule
- American Coot
- Black-necked Stilt
- American Avocet
- Snowy Plover
- Semipalmated Plover
- Killdeer
- Upland Sandpiper
- Stilt Sandpiper
- Baird’s Sandpiper
- Least Sandpiper
- Pectoral Sandpiper
- Semipalmated Sandpiper
- Long-billed Dowitcher
- Wilson’s Phalarope
- Spotted Sandpiper
- Greater Yellowlegs
- Lesser Yellowlegs
- Franklin’s Gull
- Ring-billed Gull
- Black Tern
- Forster’s Tern
- Neotropic Cormorant
- Double-crested Cormorant
- American White Pelican
- American Bittern
- Least Bittern
- Great Blue Heron
- Great Egret
- Snowy Egret
- Little Blue Heron
- Cattle Egret
- Black-crowned Night Heron
- Yellow-crowned Night Heron
- White-faced Ibis
- Turkey Vulture
- Mississippi Kite
- Bald Eagle
- Swainson’s Hawk
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Great Horned Owl
- Belted Kingfisher
- Red-headed Woodpecker
- Downy Woodpecker
- Northern Flicker
- American Kestrel
- Great-crested Flycatcher
- Western Kingbird
- Eastern Kingbird
- Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
- Bell’s Vireo
- Warbling Vireo
- Bluejay
- Horned Lark
- Northern Rough-winged Swallow
- Purple Martin
- Tree Swallow
- Bank Swallow
- Barn Swallow
- Cliff Swallow
- House Wren
- Marsh Wren
- Carolina 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
- Orchard Oriole
- Baltimore Oriole
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- Common Grackle
- Great-tailed Grackle
- Common Yellowthroat
- Yellow Warbler
- Northern Cardinal
- Indigo Bunting
- Dickcissel