By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
School around the state opened their doors last month, but the Kansas Wetlands Education Center northeast of Great Bend continues teaching year-round. Director Curtis Wolf said with school back in session, the five elementary schools in Great Bend have already sent their sixth graders on a field trip to the facility.
"It's something about that, getting the kids out there," he said. "That's we love. We love being able to teach these kids, and this one is really fun because this is where we, with the sixth-grade classes, really get into why Cheyenne Bottoms is such an important place."
The students get outside to look for aquatic invertebrates, which is one of the big reasons the Bottoms is a stopover for migrating birds. The sixth graders not only learn during the field trip, but often remember the day fondly when looking back years later. Second-graders from all Barton County schools will soon make their own memories as part of Second Grade Wetlands Day.
"All the second graders from public schools and parochial schools come out," Wolf said. "This year, I think we're expecting right at 300 kids. It's a wonderful day, one of my favorite days of the year. Sometimes it's total chaos, but it's a fun time getting those kids out there."
What are those aquatic invertebrates that bring in the birds? Wolf explained that macro, which means large, only means visible to the eye when it comes to the spineless insects. The insect larvae serve as the base of the food chain. Dragonfly larvae is a popular cuisine of the birds, but the insects also serve a purpose. The predatory dragonfly larvae eat mosquito larvae, and adult dragonflies also feast on the pests.