Fall bird migration is quietly happening here at Cheyenne Bottoms.  Fall migrants are showing up and will continue to move through the area over the next few months.  Early migrants at Cheyenne Bottoms include a diversity of sandpipers and plovers, as well as ducks.  While Cheyenne Bottoms does not have an abundance of shorebird habitat, they can be found in shallow water areas and along shorelines.  Also commonly being seen right now are egrets, herons, ibis, avocets, stilts, grebes, coots, cormorants, pelicans, and gulls.

Water levels at Cheyenne Bottoms are still holding on.  Currently, surface water is available in all storage pools of the Wildlife Area (Pools 1a, 1b, and 1c).  There are also a few shallow water areas in Pool 2 and 3a.  KDWP staff will begin flooding several of the public access pools in the next day or two.

Teal duck hunting season will be September 13-21.

Quivira NWR water levels look very good, and there is available water in most areas.   Check out http://fws.gov/refuge/Quivira or call the Quivira NWR Headquarters at 620-410-4011 for updated conditions.

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 of birds that have been reported over the last couple weeks:

• Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
• Canada Goose
• Wood Duck
• Blue-winged Teal
• Norther Shoveler
• Gadwall
• American Wigeon
• Mallard
• Green-winged Teal
• Redhead
• Ruddy Duck
• Northern Bobwhite
• Wild Turkey
• Ring-necked Pheasant
• Eurasian Collared-Dove
• Mourning Dove
• Common Nighthawk
• Virginia Rail
• Sora
• Common Gallinule
• American Coot
• Black-necked Stilt
• American Avocet
• Black-bellied Plover
• Killdeer
• Semipalmated Plover
• Piping Plover
• Snowy Plover
• Upland Sandpiper
• Long-billed Dowitcher
• Wilson’s Snipe
• Wilson’s Phalarope
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Solitary Sandpiper
• Lesser Yellowlegs
• Greater Yellowlegs
• Stilt Sandpiper
• Dunlin
• Baird’s Sandpiper
• Least Sandpiper
• Pectoral Sandpiper
• Semipalmated Sandpiper
• Franklin’s Gull
• Ring-billed Gull
• Black Tern
• Forster’s Tern
• Pied-billed Grebe
• Eared Grebe
• Western Grebe
• Double-crested Cormorant
• White-faced Ibis
• American Bittern
• Least Bittern
• Yellow-crowned Night Heron
• Black-crowned Night Heron
• Little Blue Heron
• Snowy Egret
• Western Cattle Egret
• Great Egret
• Great Blue Heron
• American White Pelican
• Turkey Vulture
• Osprey
• Mississippi Kite
• Red-tailed Hawk
• American Barn Owl
• Great Horned Owl
• Burrowing Owl
• Belted Kingfisher
• Red-headed Woodpecker
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker
• American Kestrel
• Least Flycatcher
• Eastern Phoebe
• Bell’s Vireo
• Loggerhead Shrike
• Blue Jay
• Horned Lark
• Bank Swallow
• Purple Martin
• Barn Swallow
• Cliff Swallow
• Northern House Wren
• Marsh Wren
• European Starling
• American Robin
• House Sparrow
• House Finch
• Grasshopper Sparrow
• Yellow-headed Blackbird
• Western Meadowlark
• Eastern Meadowlark
• Baltimore Oriole
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• Common Grackle
• Great-tailed Grackle
• Common Yellowthroat
• Northern Cardinal
• Dickcissel