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 birds coming and going through Cheyenne Bottoms.  Sandpiper numbers and diversity are on the increase if you can find good mudflat habitats. We will continue to see summer resident birds throughout the marsh for a couple months, including herons, egrets, avocets, ibis, and stilts.  Other common birds being reported include cormorants, coots, pelicans, gulls, terns, sandpipers, grebes, killdeer, and ducks.

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).  However, KDWP staff began flooding Pools 4b and 5 this week, and will be flooding Pool 3a soon.  Pools 1a, 1b, 1c, and 2 all have good levels of stored water, but it is unclear how far these reserves will go to flood the public pools.  The permanent marshes on the Nature Conservancy property have been holding many birds as well and is worth a drive through Crooked Rd (NE 100 Rd and NE 90 Rd).

The Early Teal hunting season begins statewide in Kansas on September 11 and runs through September 27.

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
• American Wigeon
• 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
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird
• Virginia Rail
• Sora
• American Coot
• Black-necked Stilt
• American Avocet
• Snowy Plover
• Killdeer
• Upland Sandpiper
• Long-billed Curlew
• Ruddy Turnstone
• Stilt Sandpiper
• Sanderling
• Baird’s Sandpiper
• Least Sandpiper
• Buff-breasted Sandpiper
• Pectoral Sandpiper
• Semipalmated Sandpiper
• Western Sandpiper
• Short-billed Dowitcher
• Long-billed Dowitcher
• Wilson’s Snipe
• Wilson’s Phalarope
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Solitary Sandpiper
• Greater Yellowlegs
• Lesser Yellowlegs
• Franklin’s Gull
• Ring-billed Gull
• Least Tern
• Black Tern
• Forster’s Tern
• 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
• Yellow-crowned Night Heron
• White-faced Ibis
• Turkey Vulture
• Mississippi Kite
• Northern Harrier
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Great Horned Owl
• Belted Kingfisher
• Red-headed Woodpecker
• Downy Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker
• Eastern Wood-Pewee
• Western Kingbird
• Eastern Kingbird
• Warbling Vireo
• Blue Jay
• Northern Rough-winged Swallow
• Purple Martin
• Tree Swallow
• Bank Swallow
• Barn Swallow
• Cliff Swallow
• White-breasted Nuthatch
• House Wren
• European Starling
• Gray Catbird
• American Robin
• House Sparrow
• American Goldfinch
• Grasshopper Sparrow
• Chipping Sparrow
• Lark Sparrow
• Yellow-headed Blackbird
• Western Meadowlark
• Eastern Meadowlark
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• Common Grackle
• Great-tailed Grackle
• Common Yellowthroat
• Northern Cardinal
• Dickcissel