More 2009 Favorites V

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Great egret
Taken September 2009
Cheyenne Bottoms WMA, Kansas


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Great egrets
Taken September 2009
Cheyenne Bottoms WMA, Kansas

Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area

There are a plethora of websites for Cheyenne Bottoms. One of them begins:

"All wildlife watchers should make an annual pilgrimage to Cheyenne Bottoms…" say Bob Gress and George Potts, authors of Watching Kansas Wildlife.

While it has been several years since I visited Cheyenne Bottoms, I can hardly disagree with that statement.

More from the same site:

Cheyenne Bottoms is a 41,000-acre lowland located six miles northeast of Great Bend, Kansas. The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks operates 19,857 acres as a wildlife management area. The Nature Conservancy owns and manages 7,300 acres adjacent to Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area.

For the most part, the roads through the area are atop the dikes that separate the area, so you look down into the water at the birds.

Other websites are here, here, and here. Some photographs of the area are here.

I saw what is most likely to have been a White-faced Ibis, though it took me awhile to settle on that. This is a cropped photo



A white faced is supposed to have a white and red face and red eyes. The Glossy Ibis has a brown face and brown eyes. However, in non-breeding plumage they both have brown eyes. Since a glossy is not supposed to be in Kansas, I have to go with white-faced. I did really hope it was a glossy, as that would have been a lifer for me.

My Cheyenne Bottoms photos are here.

Day Two at Quivira NWR and Cheyenne WA

I'm tired tonight...so just a few of my favorite photos from today and yesterday

There was a beautiful sunrise this morning. This was taken just west of Quivira


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There were lots of Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets and a few Cattle Egrets at Quivira. I really like this photo of a Cattle Egret


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This is, I believe, a Least Sandpiper


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Took this photo of a Western Grebe at Cheyenne Bottoms


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Heading home tomorrow, whether I want to or not.

Quivira NWR and Cheyenne Bottoms WA

I am in Kansas tonight. Spent a good part of the day at Quivira NWR, and the remainder at Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area.

Saw a really neat sign there


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Quivira photos for the day are here.

Cheyenne Bottoms photos are here.

More on the trip tomorrow.