Note: Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Kansas Wetlands Education Center will be closed to the public indefinitely.  Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area and Preserve are still open to the public as normal.

Spring migration continues, but is winding down.  Several bird species have come and gone in the last few weeks as they complete their spring migration through the area.  As we get into June, bird activity generally reduces significantly.

Many of Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area’s pools have been drained for work later this Summer.  All storage pools (Pool 1 complex) are full.  Pool 3a will remain very low/dry into the Spring for continued vegetation/silt management.  Pool 4a is about dry at this time.  Pool 4b contains isolated pools of trapped water.   Pool 5 is about dry.  All roads are currently open and driveable, but may be a little rough due to some of the dirt work and trucks traveling over them recently.

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–broods of various stages of development can be seen
• Wood Duck
• Gadwall
• American Wigeon
• Mallard
• Blue-winged Teal
• Cinnamon Teal
• Northern Shoveler
• Green-winged Teal
• Redhead
• Ruddy Duck
• Ring-necked Pheasant
• Wild Turkey
• Pied-billed Grebe
• Eared Grebe
• Western Grebe
• Neotropic Cormorant
• Double-crested Cormorant
• American White Pelican
• Great Blue Heron
• American Bittern
• Great Egret
• Snowy Egret
• Cattle Egret
• Green Heron
• Black-crowned Night Heron
• Glossy Ibis
• White-faced Ibis
• Turkey Vulture
• Northern Harrier
• Bald Eagle
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Virginia Rail
• Sora
• Common Gallinule
• American Coot
• Black-necked Stilt
• American Avocet
• Black-bellied Plover
• Snowy Plover
• Semipalmated Plover
• Piping Plover
• Killdeer
• Upland Sandpiper
• Whimbrel
• Hudsonina Godwit
• Marbled Godwit
• Ruddy Turnstone
• Sanderling
• Lesser Yellowlegs
• Stilt Sandpiper
• Dunlin
• Baird’s Sandpiper
• Least Sandpiper
• White-rumped Sandpiper
• Pectoral Sandpiper
• Semipalmated Sandpiper
• Western Sandpiper
• Long-billed Dowitcher
• Wilson’s Snipe
• Wilson’s Phalarope
• Red-necked Phalarope
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Willet
• Franklin’s Gull
• Ring-billed Gull
• Black Tern
• Forster’s Tern
• Eurasian Collared Dove
• Mourning Dove
• Great Horned Owl
• Common Nighthawk
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker
• Eastern Phoebe
• Great-crested Flycatcher
• Western Kingbird
• Eastern Kingbird
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
• Bell’s Vireo
• Warbling Vireo
• Loggerhead Shrike
• Bluejay
• Horned Lark
• Northern Rough-winged Swallow
• Tree Swallow
• Barn Swallow
• Bank Swallow
• Cliff Swallow
• House Wren
• Marsh Wren
• Northern Mockingbird
• Brown Thrasher
• American Robin
• European Starling
• American Goldfinch
• Grasshopper Sparrow
• Clay-colored Sparrow
• Lark Sparrow
• Eastern Towhee
• Northern Cardinal
• Dickcissel
• Yellow-headed Blackbird
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Eastern Meadowlark
• Western Meadowlark
• Orchard Oriole
• Baltimore Oriole
• Great-tailed Grackle
• Common Grackle
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• Orange-crowned Warbler
• Common Yellowthroat
• Yellow Warbler
• House Sparrow