Recent Bird Sightings - 2021
Recent Bird Sightings - December 21
Date: 12/21/2021
Something more resembling winter in Kansas has finally hit Cheyenne Bottoms. Until a couple weeks ago, weather patterns had been extremely mild from the Fall into early Winter. Consequently, the bird communities had reflected this. Large groups of waterfowl were relatively late arr...
Recent Bird Sightings - October 20
Date: 10/20/2021
The seasons are changing and so are the birds at Cheyenne Bottoms. Fall bird migration lingers. Several fall migrant species have shown up in the last couple weeks, including Sandhill cranes, Snow Geese, Merlin, and several sparrow species. The thousands of pelicans that were prese...
Recent Bird Sightings - September 28
Date: 09/28/2021
Fall migration continues on. Some of the summer resident birds have headed on south, including many of the songbirds like orioles, kingbirds, dickcissels, and upland sandpipers. Fall migrant species have increased over the last few weeks. Thousands of pelicans can be seen most days at Ch...
Recent Bird Sightings - September 2
Date: 09/02/2021
Fall migration is well on its way. Although, there is still a lot of migration season left for the fall. Fall migration is stretched out over a long period of time, and we will not see the bigger pushes of birds to the area until late August-October. But, we are definitely seeing migrant...
Recent Bird Sightings - August 9
Date: 08/09/2021
Early migrants have continued to show up at Cheyenne Bottoms. Fall migration is stretched out over a long period of time, and we will not see the bigger pushes of birds to the area until late August-October. Summer resident birds are still the most abundant group of birds to be seen....
Recent Bird Sightings - July 21
Date: 07/21/2021
In the past two weeks, we have seen the first early southbound migrants show up in the area. The first fall migrant shorebirds typically show up around the first week of July. Over the last couple weeks, we have seen several species of sandpipers at Cheyenne Bottoms. Fall migration...
Recent Bird Sightings - June 23
Date: 06/23/2021
We are in the heart of summer here at Cheyenne Bottoms. Between hot temperatures and the time of year, birding activity is quite slow. It appears that all the migrants are now through the area. Summer resident birds can be seen, but the best birding is typically in the early mornin...
Recent Bird Sightings - May 20
Date: 05/20/2021
It appears that we are on the downswing of Spring migration. However, there are still plenty of birds to see at Cheyenne Bottoms. While it seems to vary day-to-day, bird numbers and diversity are still good, but not as good as it was 2-3 weeks ago. Shorebird numbers can be good if ...
Recent Bird Sightings - May 4
Date: 05/04/2021
We are at the peak of Spring migration! Bird numbers and diversity have been excellent over the past couple weeks and should continue to be great for the next couple weeks. However, several birders have noticed that bird numbers have varied quite a bit day to day. We suspect that m...
Recent Bird Sightings - April 12
Date: 04/12/2021
Spring migration continues! And, typically will hit its peak around the end of April. Bird activity continues to be excellent at Cheyenne Bottoms, and you never know what you might see, as new arrivals happen frequently this time of year. Duck numbers and diversity continue to be e...
Recent Bird Sightings - March 22
Date: 03/22/2021
It is safe to say that Spring migration is well on its way! Bird activity has been excellent for the last couple weeks at Cheyenne Bottoms. We are approaching the time of year where the bird community can change almost daily. This will continue for the next 2 months. Goose nu...
Recent Bird Sightings - March 1
Date: 03/01/2021
Almost immediately after an extremely cold 2 weeks where Cheyenne Bottoms froze up, birds are returning, and signs of Spring migration are in the air. All pools are now ice free, and forecasted warm weather in the coming weeks look to get Spring migration ramped up. Varying numbers of Sn...
Recent Bird Sightings - January 29, 2021
Date: 01/29/2021
Happy Kansas Day! After a couple snowy, cold days, the wetlands pretty well froze up for the first time this winter. Until then, the mild weather we have had have allowed many water-birds to remain in the area that would normally have moved south by this time. As of today (Jan. 29), most...
Recent Bird Sightings - January 5, 2021
Date: 01/05/2021
This winter has remained relatively mild. Although there have been a couple nights of single-digit to teen temperatures, those periods have been short-lived. Therefore, the bird community at Cheyenne Bottoms has remained quite active. Typical years would have seen at least one total free...