Waubay National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge

National Wildlife Refuge

National Wildlife Refuge is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the world's premiere system of public lands and waters set aside to conserve America's fish, wildlife and plants...

 in South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

. "Waubay" means "a place where numbers of birds make their nests" in the Dakota language

Dakota language

Dakota is a Siouan language spoken by the Dakota people of the Sioux tribes. Dakota is closely related to and mutually intelligible with the Lakota language.-Dialects:...

. The Refuge encompasses 4650 acres (18.8 km²) of wetland

Wetland

A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....

s, native tallgrass prairie

Prairie

Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...

, and bur oak

Bur oak

Quercus macrocarpa, the Bur Oak, sometimes spelled Burr Oak, is a species of oak in the white oak section Quercus sect. Quercus, native to North America in the eastern and midwestern United States and south-central Canada...

 forest that provide a wide variety of nesting habitat for more than 100 species of waterfowl

Waterfowl

Waterfowl are certain wildfowl of the order Anseriformes, especially members of the family Anatidae, which includes ducks, geese, and swans....

, song birds, and upland game birds as well as 140 additional bird species during migrations. Mammals include species from the ever present white-tailed deer

White-tailed Deer

The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...

 to the more elusive coyote

Coyote

The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...

 and the diminutive pygmy shrew

Pygmy Shrew

The American Pygmy Shrew is a small shrew found in Alaska, Canada and the northern United States down through the Appalachian Mountains. It was first discovered in 1831 by the acclaimed naturalist William Cane in Georgian Bay, Parry Sound....

. The central location of Waubay National Wildlife Refuge in North America gives visitors the chance to see a mix of eastern, western, northern, and southern species.