DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge acts as a rest stop for birds. Thousands of birds migrating along the Missouri River corridor utilize the refuge as a sanctuary and resting place as birds make their migration journey in the spring and fall. The refuge is best known for the big flocks of migratory waterfowl utilizing the refuge wetlands and lakes. Along with the waterfowl, bald eagles will congregate on the refuge. Songbirds are also abundant later in the spring and during the summer months. The bottomland forests, grasslands and wetlands provide a diverse mosaic of habitat that benefit more than 100 species of birds including dickcissels, orioles, yellow-headed blackbirds, red-headed woodpeckers, yellow warblers and common yellowthroats.

DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge is located along the Missouri River and borders both Iowa (outside oxbow) and Nebraska (inside oxbow). Within its 8,365 acres lies DeSoto Lake, an oxbow lake that used to be a bend in the Missouri River. The refuge contains bottomland forests, tall grass prairie and wetland habitats that are managed to mimic the natural Missouri River floodplain habitat to benefit a diversity of migratory birds that flock to the refuge each year in the spring and fall. The refuge also contains a piece of history within its borders, the Bertrand Steamboat. The Bertrand sunk on the bend of river that is now DeSoto Lake leaving behind the cargo and historic time pieces, amounting to almost 250,000 different artifacts housed within the walls of the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center. DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge is truly a place where wildlife meets history!

DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge is located 25 miles north of Omaha, Nebraska on Highway 30 between Missouri Valley, Iowa and Blair, Nebraska. From Omaha, take Interstate 29 north to U.S. Highway 30, Exit 75 at Missouri Valley, continue west on US Hwy 30 for five miles to the refuge entrance. Or take US Hwy 75 north to Hwy 30, going east five miles to the refuge entrance on DeSoto Avenue.