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 is stretched out over a long period of time, and we will not see the bigger pushes of birds to the area until August-October.  Early Fall migrants seen include: Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Pectoral Sandpipers, Least sandpipers, White-rumped Sandpipers, Stilt Sandpipers, and Long-billed Dowitchers.  More are on this way!  Summer resident birds are still the most abundant group of birds to be seen.  The best birding is typically in the early morning and late evenings this time of year.  Birds to be seen include herons, egrets, cormorants, ibis, avocets, gulls, Black Terns, grebes, killdeer, and some ducks and geese.  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
• Gadwall
• Mallard
• Green-winged Teal
• Redhead
• Ruddy Duck
• Northern Bobwhite
• Ring-necked Pheasant
• Pied-billed Grebe
• Western Grebe
• Eurasian Collared Dove
• Mourning Dove
• Common Nighthawk
• American Coot
• Black-necked Stilt
• American Avocet
• Killdeer
• Snowy Plover
• Upland Sandpiper
• Stilt Sandpiper
• Least Sandpiper
• White-rumped Sandpiper
• Pectoral Sandpiper
• Semipalmated Sandpiper
• Long-billed Dowitcher
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Lesser Yellowlegs
• Greater 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
• Green Heron
• Black-crowned Night-Heron
• White-faced Ibis
• Turkey Vulture
• Bald Eagle
• Mississippi Kite
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Great Horned Owl
• Red-headed Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker
• American Kestrel
• Western Kingbird
• Eastern Kingbird
• Bell’s Vireo
• Warbling Vireo
• Blue Jay
• Horned Lark
• Northern Rough-winged Swallow
• 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
• Yellow-headed Blackbird
• Western Meadowlark
• Eastern Meadowlark
• Orchard Oriole
• Baltimore Oriole
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• Common Grackle
• Great-tailed Grackle
• Common Yellowthroat
• Northern Cardinal
• Dickcissel