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 is approaching its peak.  Several “First of Season” (FOS) birds continue to show up frequently.  Shorebird species have arrived in numbers over the last few days.  Song bird migrants have also shown up. Waterfowl diversity is still great; however, there is a shift toward more wading and shorebirds.

Many of Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area’s pools have been drained for work later this Spring and 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.  Water levels and waterfowl counts are updated approximately weekly here:  https://ksoutdoors.com/KDWPT-Info/Locations/Wildlife-Areas/Southwest/Cheyenne-Bottoms

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:

• Snow Goose–1 or 2 can still be found
• Canada Goose–the first brood of young geese was spotted today
• Wood Duck
• Gadwall
• American Wigeon
• Mallard
• Blue-winged Teal
• Cinnamon Teal
• Northern Shoveler
• Northern Pintail
• Green-winged Teal
• Redhead
• Ruddy Duck
• Ring-necked Pheasant
• Wild Turkey
• Pied-billed Grebe
• Eared Grebe
• Horned Grebe
• Western Grebe
• Neotropic Cormorant
• Double-crested Cormorant
• American White Pelican
• Great Blue Heron
• American Bittern
• Great Egret
• Snowy Egret
• Cattle Egret
• Black-crowned Night Heron
• Yellow-crowned Night Heron
• Turkey Vulture
• Northern Harrier
• Cooper’s Hawk
• Red-tailed Hawk
• American Kestrel
• Peregrine Falcon
• Sora
• Common Gallinule
• American Coot
• Black-necked Stilt
• American Avocet
• White-faced Ibis
• Glossy Ibis
• American Golden Plover
• Snowy Plover
• Semipalmated Plover
• Killdeer
• Upland Sandpiper
• Hudsonina Godwit
• Marbled Godwit
• Greater Yellowlegs
• Lesser Yellowlegs
• Stilt Sandpiper
• Dunlin
• Baird’s Sandpiper
• Least Sandpiper
• White-rumped Sandpiper
• Pectoral Sandpiper
• Semipalmated Sandpiper
• Long-billed Dowitcher
• Wilson’s Snipe
• Wilson’s Phalarope
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Willet
• Franklin’s Gull
• Ring-billed Gull
• Forster’s Tern
• Eurasian Collared Dove
• Mourning Dove
• Great Horned Owl
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Downy Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker
• Eastern Phoebe
• 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
• Chipping Sparrow
• Clay-colored Sparrow
• Lark Sparrow
• Field Sparrow
• White-crowned Sparrow
• Vesper Sparrow
• Savannah Sparrow
• Harris’s Sparrow
• Spotted 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
• Palm Warbler
• Yellow-rumped Warbler
• House Sparrow