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.  Birds to be seen include herons, egrets, cormorants, coots, pelicans, ibis, avocets, some sandpipers, gulls, Black Terns, grebes, killdeer, and some ducks.  Songbird diversity continues to be great in the surrounding forested areas.

All roads are currently open through Cheyenne Bottoms.

Water availability is probably the key for finding many of the bird species this time of year.  Several pools of Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area have been drawn down or have dried up (i.e. Pools 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b, and 5).  Pools 1a, 1b, 1c, and 2 all have good water, as do the permanent marshes on the Nature Conservancy property.  Even the dry pools have some isolated pockets of water, which often are supporting birds.

Birding at Quivira NWR has been similar to Cheyenne Bottoms.  The most activity has been on the north end of the refuge around NE 170^th St and the Wildlife Driving Loop.  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
• Blue-winged Teal
• Northern Shoveler
• Gadwall
• Mallard
• Northern Pintail
• Green-winged Teal
• Redhead
• Ruddy Duck
• Northern Bobwhite
• Ring-necked Pheasant
• Pied-billed Grebe
• Western Grebe
• Eurasian Collared Dove
• Mourning Dove
• Common Nighthawk
• Virginia Rail
• Common Gallinule
• American Coot
• Black-necked Stilt
• American Avocet
• Black-bellied Plover
• Snowy Plover
• Killdeer
• Upland Sandpiper
• Long-billed Curlew
• Marbled Godwit
• Stilt Sandpiper
• Sanderling
• Baird’s Sandpiper
• Least Sandpiper
• White-rumped Sandpiper
• Buff-breasted Sandpiper
• Pectoral Sandpiper
• Semipalmated Sandpiper
• Western Sandpiper
• Long-billed Dowitcher
• Wilson’s Phalarope
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Solitary 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
• Cattle Egret
• Green Heron
• Black-crowned Night-Heron
• Yellow-crowned Night Heron
• White-faced Ibis
• Turkey Vulture
• Mississippi Kite
• Northern Harrier
• Swainson’s Hawk
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Great Horned Owl
• Belted Kingfisher
• Red-headed Woodpecker
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Downy Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker
• Eastern Wood-Pewee
• Western Kingbird
• Eastern Kingbird
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
• Bell’s Vireo
• Warbling Vireo
• Blue Jay
• 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
• American Robin
• House Sparrow
• American Goldfinch
• Grasshopper Sparrow
• Lark Sparrow
• Yellow-headed Blackbird
• Western Meadowlark
• Eastern Meadowlark
• Orchard Oriole
• Baltimore Oriole
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• Rusty Blackbird
• Common Grackle
• Great-tailed Grackle
• Common Yellowthroat
• Yellow Warbler
• Northern Cardinal
• Dickcissel