By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Water levels continue to be an issue at Cheyenne Bottoms. The Kansas Wetlands Education Center has recorded just two inches of precipitation so far this year, and KWEC Director Curtis Wolf estimates the water left in Pool 1A is only five or six inches deep. The shorebirds, however, still came in droves as part of spring migration.
"Even though we don't have the amount of water we'd like to have, we've still seen a very, very good migration season," Wolf said. "We should be on the downside of the peak now. Typically, we say the peak is the last two weeks of April through the first two weeks of May. It seemed to be a little bit early this year."
Within the last two weeks, more than 100,000 shorebirds were estimated to be at the Bottoms. One notable species is the Wilson's phalarope, a small bird that spins in the water to help dredge up food. Three whooping cranes also made a late appearance at Bottoms on Saturday.
"The water we had is about the perfect shorebird depth," Wolf said. "Shorebirds migrating through for the spring, we had a lot of them in that small area, but I guess what we would like to see is, over that 13,000 acres, having birds over all that area instead of just packed into 1,000 acres."
The KWEC is now open seven days a week for its summer hours through Oct. 31. The Center is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday.