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Wildlife

Wildlife

Wildlife is all around us at Wetlands Park. At 2900 acres, the Park contains four different habitats: riparian, aquatic, desert scrub, and mesquite woodland. Habitat diversity means that the Park is also home to 314 species of birds and 70 species of reptiles, mammals, and amphibians.

While visiting Wetlands Park and others near your home, be mindful of wildlife. Do not approach, touch, or feed wildlife you encounter. Human food can be harmful to animals and can make them reliant on people to supply their meals, so it’s best to keep your lunch to yourself. Observe from a respectable distance and take photos if you like.

If you are curious about the wildlife around you, you can join a community science initiative called iNaturalist. Photos taken by community members are uploaded to a database, where scientists help identify flora and fauna and categorize them.

View and contribute to the Wetlands Park Nature Journal project on iNaturalist.

Wildlife Diversity

Clark County Wetlands Park is home to over 70 species of mammals, reptiles, and amphibians, and over 310 species of birds.

Birds Bird List
The most common wildlife in the Park, birds range in size from the golden eagle with its six-foot wingspan to the tiny black-chinned hummingbird.

Look for the northern mockingbird, mourning dove, Say's phoebe and little gray, yellow-headed verdin that routinely fly through the Park's main parking lot. Also keep an eye out for Gambel's quail and greater roadrunner as they pass on foot.

At the ponds in the Preserve, the first duck-like bird you'll likely see is the American coot, a black paddler with a white bill and faceplate. The coot has a less-often-seen "cousin" – the common gallinule – which has a red bill and faceplate.

The Park's aquatic wetlands are prime habitat for wading birds, including its largest, the great blue heron and great egret. These birds typically stand three-feet tall and have a wingspan of over six feet. The heron is often difficult to spot because it blends so well with its surroundings.

Birds of prey regularly fly over the Park. They include the northern harrier, a low-flying hawk with a white patch visible at the base of its tail. Red-tailed hawks usually soar higher. The smallest bird of prey, the loggerhead shrike, a small light gray bird that appears to wear a black, bandit-style mask around its eyes, can often be seen in the top branches of mesquite trees and cottonwoods. It watches its prey, often a large insect, sometimes a small bird or a rodent, then pounces.

A common resident of the alkali meadow and desert scrub habitats in the Park is the phainopepla, a small black or gray bird with white patches on its wings and a raised tuft or crest on its head. The birds have a unique relationship with the desert mistletoe, a parasitic plant that lives off of the mesquite trees found throughout the Park. Phainopeplas feed heavily on berries of this parasitic plant; after the berries pass through the bird's digestive tract, the seeds often stick to branches of mesquite or other trees, where they can sprout new mistletoe clumps.

Mammals

The Park makes life easier for many desert species. Animals like coyote are found in greater numbers, drawn by water and prey. Hares and cottontail rabbits often scoot across the trails at the sounds of visitor footfalls. Some animals, such as raccoons, bats, badgers, beavers, foxes, and bobcats, are rarely seen during daylight hours, but evidence in the form of tracks and scat can often be found alongside the walkways.

Fish

The Park is home to a number of fish species, none of which are native to southern Nevada. Some, like the mosquitofish, were introduced because they eat mosquito larvae and help control mosquito populations. Others like the green sunfish and common carp were introduced into the Colorado River for spot fishing and swan up the Wash from Lake Mead. All of these fish are tough enough to survive in the warm, alkali water of the Park. They provide food for the wading birds, such as herons, egrets, and ibis.

Amphibians and Reptiles

A wide range of amphibians and reptiles are at home in the Park. Some live in ponds and streams, like the large spiny softshelled turtles that like to sun themselves on rocks in the Preserve streams and ponds and the Wash, especially during the warmer weather. Also in the warmer weather visitors may see the wester whiptail lizard with its characteristic pointed nose and the non-venomous red racer snake as they skirt through the meadows and scrub.

Invertebrates

At the Park, the world's smallest creatures are well established in the habitats, helping to provide a balance to biodiversity and a welcomed food source for birds, animals, and other insects.

Threatened and Endangered Species

The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the few dozens of US environmental laws that serve as legislation to protect critically imperiled species from extinction, whatever the cost. At the Park, we are protecting four wildlife species.

Clark County Wetlands Park
7050 Wetlands Park Lane
Las Vegas, NV 89122
Maps
Phone: (702) 455-7522
Email: wetlands@clarkcountynv.gov