It is safe to say that Spring bird migration has begun!  After a stretch of very cold and wintery weather, the area has warmed up and thawed out quickly and the early bird migrants have responded.  Sandhill cranes, Snow Geese, and waterfowl have started infiltrating the area quite dramatically, and should continue to do so.  We doubt that winter is over for the area, but spring days are near, and spring migration will really start to ramp up over the coming weeks.

The several snow events that the area has received this winter have helped the water situation some, but the wetlands of Cheyenne Bottoms are still quite limited in available water.  We hope for good spring rain now that the soils are relatively saturated to produce some runoff that will fill the wetlands.  The water situation at Cheyenne Bottoms looks like this currently: Pool 1a and Pool 3a are the only pools holding water.  Most other pools are dry or may have very limited, isolated sheet water.

Other winter resident birds are still very numerous as well, including good numbers of raptors, sparrows, and other winter songbirds.

Quivira NWR will have similar conditions.  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:

• Snow Goose
• Ross’s Goose
• Greater White-fronted Goose
• Cackling Goose
• Canada Goose
• Norther Shoveler
• American Wigeon
• Mallard
• Northern Pintail
• Green-winged Teal
• Hooded Merganser
• Northern Bobwhite
• Wild Turkey
• Ring-necked Pheasant
• Eurasian Collared-Dove
• Mourning Dove
• Sandhill Crane
• Ring-billed Gull
• American Herring Gull
• Lesser Black-backed Gull
• Great Blue Heron
• Sharp-shinned Hawk
• Cooper’s Hawk
• Northern Harrier
• Bald Eagle
• Red-tailed Hawk
• American Barn Owl
• Great Horned Owl
• Short-eared Owl
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Downy Woodpecker
• Hairy Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker
• American Kestrel
• American Crow
• Horned Lark
• White-breasted Nuthatch
• Brown Creeper
• European Starling
• American Robin
• Cedar Waxwing
• House Sparrow
• House Finch
• American Goldfinch
• American Tree Sparrow
• Dark-eyed Junco
• White-crowned Sparrow
• Harris’s Sparrow
• Song Sparrow
• Western Meadowlark
• Eastern Meadowlark
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• Brewer’s Blackbird
• Common Grackle
• Great-tailed Grackle
• Northern Cardinal