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 morning and late evenings this time of year.  Birds to be seen include herons, egrets, cormorants, ibis, avocets, gulls, killdeer, and some ducks and geese.  Songbird diversity has been great in the surrounding forested areas.

All roads are currently open through Cheyenne Bottoms.  There are currently several construction projects going on at Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area.

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
• Green-winged Teal
• Redhead
• Ruddy Duck
• Northern Bobwhite
• Ring-necked Pheasant
• Pied-billed Grebe
• Western Grebe
• Eurasian Collared Dove
• Mourning Dove
• Yellow-billed Cuckoo
• Common Nighthawk
• Common Gallinule
• American Coot
• Black-necked Stilt
• American Avocet
• Snowy Plover
• Killdeer
• Upland Sandpiper
• Spotted Sandpiper
• 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
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Great Horned Owl
• Red-headed Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker
• Eastern Phoebe
• Great Crested Flycatcher
• Western Kingbird
• Eastern Kingbird
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
• Bell’s Vireo
• Warbling Vireo
• Blue Jay
• Horned Lark
• Northern Rough-winged Swallow
• Tree Swallow
• Bank Swallow
• Barn Swallow
• Cliff Swallow
• House 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
• Common Grackle
• Great-tailed Grackle
• Common Yellowthroat
• Yellow Warbler
• Northern Cardinal
• Indigo Bunting
• Dickcissel