Today begins early with a visit to a nearby ranch that’s home to Greater Prairie-Chickens. Before sunrise, males start arriving to this historic lek, a place where multiple males gather during mating season and engage in competitive displays. Our private blinds are close to the action so we can observe the interactions between the alpha male and his challengers. Our morning continues with birding at Kirwin hotspots before heading south to Cheyenne Bottoms, a 41,000-acre wetland complex in central Kansas and one of the top staging areas – places migrating birds stop to feed and rest – for shorebirds and waterfowl in the United States. Evening arrival to Great Bend.

Accommodations: Holiday Inn Express and Suites

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch 

Estimated drive times today: Phillipsburg to Kirwin – 30 mins; Kirwin to Cheyenne Bottoms – 2 hrs; Cheyenne Bottoms to Great Bend – 30 mins 

We’ll spend much of the day birding at Quivira, an area of more than 22,000 acres including two vast salt marshes, prairie, woodlots and sand dunes. There’s plenty of time to explore the auto loops, as well as trails on foot. This afternoon, we’ll continue to either Scott City or Oakley arriving in time for our Farewell Dinner in town at a local restaurant. Our overnight city this evening will be decided once we know which ranch and Lesser Prairie-Chicken lek we’re visiting tomorrow morning. We’ll have that information a couple of weeks before the trip starts.

Accommodations: Sleep Inn & Suites – Oakley or El-Quartelejo Inn & Suites – Scott City

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner 

Estimated drive times today: Great Bend to Quivira – 1 hr; Quivira to Oakley or Scott City – 3 hrs

Because of the stewardship of the land in Western Kansas, the habitat in Logan, Gove, and Scott Counties, provides some of the finest places in the world to view Lesser Prairie-Chickens in their natural environment. Our day begins with a visit to a local ranch for a blind session at a lek. Our trip is timed to correspond to peak numbers of male and female prairie-chickens at the lek. 

Before leaving Kansas, we’ll enjoy a nature walk and birding at the recently opened Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park. The 332-acre park encompasses 220 acres of badlands – fragile, but ruggedly spectacular geologic formations with 100-foot-tall spires and cliffs of eroded Niobrara Chalk, a layer of rock deposited about 85 million years ago. We’ll make our way back to Denver for an early evening return.

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

Estimated drive times today: Oakley or Scott City Springs to Little Jerusalem – 30 mins; Little Jerusalem to Denver – 4 hrs