With temperatures near 100 the past few days, we can safely say that summer has arrived at Cheyenne Bottoms.  Th Spring bird migration was pretty exceptional this year, and numerous shorebirds have remained longer into June than most years.  In typical years, June bird activity is not good, as most of the migrants have moved on and many of the summer resident birds are on nests. 

Although we received some rain over the last couple weeks, water levels remain quite low at Cheyenne Bottoms.  Pools 1a, 1b, 1c, and 2 are basically the only pools with water, and that water remains very shallow.  I believe the near-perfect shorebird habitat is the reason some of the shorebirds have remained in the area for so long into June this year.  There is also good shallow water in one of the marshes on The Nature Conservancy Cheyenne Bottoms Preserve.

Although there are some shorebirds still to see at Cheyenne Bottoms, we are basically in summer birding mode now.  Summer resident birds at Cheyenne Bottoms include Great Blue Herons, egrets, gulls, terns, avocets, stilts, ibis, some ducks, a few pelicans, and various other songbirds like Dickcissels, orioles, wrens, etc.

There have been good birding reports from Quivira NWR as well.  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
• Blue-winged Teal
• Northern Shoveler
• American Wigeon
• Mallard
• Northern Pintail
• Green-winged Teal
• Redhead
• Lesser Scaup
• Northern Bobwhite
• Wild Turkey
• Ring-necked Pheasant
• Eurasian Collared-Dove
• Mourning Dove
• Common Nighthawk
• Virginia Rail
• American Coot
• Black-necked Stilt
• American Avocet
• Snowy Plover
• Killdeer
• Upland Sandpiper
• Ruddy Turnstone
• Stilt Sandpiper
• Sanderling
• Baird’s Sandpiper
• Least Sandpiper
• White-rumped Sandpiper
• Pectoral Sandpiper
• Semipalmated Sandpiper
• Western Sandpiper
• Long-billed Dowitcher
• Wilson’s Phalarope
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Franklin’s Gull
• Ring-billed Gull
• Lesser Black-backed Gull
• Least Tern
• Black Tern
• Forster’s Tern
• Double-crested Cormorant
• American White Pelican
• American Bittern
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Snowy Egret
• Little Blue Heron
• Cattle Egret
• Black-crowned Night Heron
• White-faced Ibis
• Turkey Vulture
• Northern Harrier
• Bald Eagle
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Red-headed Woodpecker
• Downy Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker
• American Kestrel
• Eastern Kingbird
• Western Kingbird
• Great-crested Flycatcher
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
• Bell’s Vireo
• Warbling Vireo
• Horned Lark
• Northern Rough-winged Swallow
• Tree Swallow
• Bank Swallow
• Barn Swallow
• Cliff Swallow
• House Wren
• European Starling
• Brown Thrasher
• American Robin
• House Sparrow
• 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
• Dickcissel