Following an internal clock, water fowl have begun spring migration and Cheyenne Bottoms, filled with plenty of water, is a stopping point on the trip north.The spring migration will continue to grow more and more spectacular through the first part of May, until at its height, hundreds of thousands of birds will rest on the water there.Currently, northern pintail, northern shoveliers, American widgeons, mallards, shorebirds such as sandhill cranes, and killdeer are at the 41,000 acre basin that is Cheyenne Bottoms along with thousands of snow geese, some great blue herons, snowy owls and American kestrel, as well as many others.The only natural flock of whooping cranes left in the world makes a stop at Cheyenne Bottoms, and several were spotted Feb. 28.“We had people flying in from New York,” to see the whooping cranes, said graduate student Clinton Helms, Fort Hays State University, who works at the Kansas Wetlands Education Center.KWEC offers tours of Cheyenne Bottoms with FHSU graduate students as guides.Explaining the history of the area and habits of the birds, Helms shared his expertise on a recent tour. Cheyenne Bottoms was the hunting grounds of the Cheyenne Indians. A battle ensued over the rich natural resource between the Cheyenne and Kiowa Indians until the creek, now known as Blood Creek, near Hoisington, ran red.“We have a lot of people in the area who don’t realize what’s in their backyard,” said Helms.