Upon completion in 1998, the Wetlands immediately began to attract wildlife. As the native plants mature more species are using the Wetlands to spend the winter or breed and raise young. The Wetlands hosts hundreds of common species and, more recently, several rare visitors. Below is a list of some of the more commonly observed species:

Common Wildlife

Water Birds
Eared grebe	Great egret	Gadwall	Redhead	Common moorhen
Pied-billed grebe	Snowy egret	Northern pintail	Ring-necked duck	American coot
Western grebe	Cattle egret	American wigeon	Lesser scaup	Sora
American white pelican	Black-crowned night-heron	Northern shoveler	Common goldeneye	Bonaparte's gull
Double-crested cormorant	White-faced ibis	Cinnamon teal	Bufflehead	Ring-billed gull
American bittern	Canada goose	Blue-winged teal	Hooded merganser	California gull
Great blue heron	Mallard	Canvasback	Ruddy duck	Caspian tern

Shorebirds
Semipalmated plover	Long-billed curlew	Long-billed dowitcher
Killdeer	Marbled godwit	Common snipe
American avocet	Dunlin	Wilson's phalarope
Black-necked stilt	Western sandpiper	Red-necked phalarope
Greater yellowlegs	Least sandpiper

Birds-of-Prey
Turkey vulture	Red-shouldered hawk	Peregrine falcon
Northern harrier	Swainson's hawk	Barn owl
White-tailed kite	Red-tailed hawk	Great-horned owl
Sharp-shinned hawk	American kestrel
Cooper's hawk	Merlin

Songbirds
Mourning dove	Black phoebe	Cliff swallow	Wilson's warbler	Yellow-headed blackbird
Rock dove	Western kingbird	Barn swallow	Savannah sparrow	Red-winged blackbird
Common nighthawk	Loggerhead shrike	Marsh wren	White-crowned sparrow	Brewer's blackbird
Anna's hummingbird	Common raven	American pipit	Fox sparrow	Great-tailed grackle
Belted kingfisher	American crow	Yellow warbler	Song sparrow	Purple finch
Northern flicker	Horned lark	Yellow-rumped warbler	Western meadowlark	American goldfinch
Olive-sided flycatcher	Tree swallow	Common yellowthroat	Brown-headed cowbird

Mammals
American beaver	Deer mouse	Raccoon
Black-tailed hare	Desert cottontail	Red fox
CA ground squirrel	Muskrat	Stripped skunk
CA vole	Mule deer	Western harvest mouse
Coyote	Northern river otter

Amphibians and Reptiles
American bullfrog	Gopher snake	Yellow-bellied racer	Western fence lizard
Pacific chorus frog	Common garter snake	Western pond turtle
Western kingsnake	Giant garter snake	Red-eared slider

 

Native Plants

Trees	Shrubs	Flowers	Grasses
Black willow	Coyote brush	CA poppy	Creeping wildrye
Red willow	CA wild rose	Gumweed	Purple needlegrass
Yellow willow	Mexican elderberry	CA goldfields	Blue wildrye
Fremont cottonwood	Button willow		Meadow barley
Valley oak	CA blackberry		Slender wheatgrass
Box elder	Poison oak		Tule (grass like emergent)
CA sycamore			Cattail (grass like emergent)