By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The spring bird migration is all but over, but so is a little history at the Kansas Wetlands Education Center. The Center offered bird-watching tours this spring, citing more than 70 species of birds in and around Cheyenne Bottoms during one two-hour period. KWEC Director Curtis Wolf said any future tours will be in a new vehicle.
“One of first things I tried to do was acquire a van,” Wolf said, referring to the opening of KWEC. “We were able to purchase a van in 2010. It was a used van at the time, so it was a 2006 van, and that’s the one people have seen around. We have it decorated, it’s commonly called the ‘bird van.’ We’ve used it, it’s been great, but it’s definitely shown its age. We put together a campaign to purchase a new van.”
In late May, KWEC was able to purchase a new van with funds from the Duane Shook Endowed Fund, Charles Hulme Endowed Fund, Golden Belt Community Foundation Giving Tuesday donors, Jon Carney Memorial, Shuette Family donation, and Fred Seyfert Memorial. The van will be used to transport staff to many educational programs throughout the area, and for future birding tours, even if the spring migration is over.
“We always say the peak of things is the last two weeks of April, the first two weeks of May,” Wolf said. “That’s right when the birds were there. That was phenomenal. We get to this time, and usually I say, we hit June 1, and we kind of get into a ‘June Gloom’ for birding at Cheyenne Bottoms. It really goes downhill.”
That’s why KWEC offers other programming. Kids can stop by during summer business hours and pick up their Summer 2026 Explorer Guide. Complete the guide for a chance to win prizes. KWEC will also offer drop-in nature crafts each Monday in July from 1-4 p.m. No registration is required for these come-and-go events.