Quivira National Wildlife Refuge is a birding paradise due to it's unique location in a transition zone between east and west. In this zone, the relatively lush vegetation of the eastern prairie blends with the more arid grasslands of the western prairie. The blend of varied plant communities and the presence of the Big and Little Salt Marshes, major water features on the Refuge, attract birds common to both eastern and western North America. Over 300 species of birds have been observed in the marshes, grasslands, farmlands, and low sandhills of Quivira NWR.