Birds
The pond attracts a wide variety of water birds, including grebes, ducks, herons and egrets, coots and rails, shorebirds, the belted kingfisher and an occasional gull. Several songbirds, such as red-winged blackbirds and marsh wrens, nest in the cattail marsh bordering the pond. Others, like black phoebes and violet-green swallows, nest in trees along the banks of the pond. Large cottonwoods and other trees along the cienega valley provide nest sites for red-tailed hawks, kestrels and herons.
Mammals
Desert cottontails, black-tailed jackrabbits and rock squirrels are seen often during daytime; their main predator, the coyote, is also frequently spotted. At night gray foxes, bobcats, striped skunks, raccoons and occasional mule deer prowl the meadows, woodlands and pond borders. Wood rats live in burrows protected by heaps of sticks and cactus joints beneath many of the large junipers. The wet meadows along the stream are crisscrossed with runways of meadow voles. The pond is home to muskrats, an occasional beaver and is a summer foraging-area for several kinds of bats.
Reptiles and Amphibians
Two large, nonpoisonous snakes - the coachwhip and the bull snake - are occasionally seen, and the poisonous western rattlesnake has been recorded. In damp areas along the stream and pond border, the harmless black-necked garter snake is common. Plateau whiptail lizards, eastern fence lizards, and the short-horned lizard are common on the open dry slopes. The only amphibian is the bullfrog, a species that is considered undesirable because it preys on other amphibians and reptiles.
Butterflies
At least 33 species of butterflies have been recorded at LCWP, about 20 of which probably breed on the site. Although butterflies may be seen from early spring through fall, they are most common from May through October, and the adults of many species are present for only a few weeks of this period. Several non-breeding species visit or migrate through the area during the period from May through August.
Other butterflies are year-round residents. They usually spend the winter in the chrysalis (cocoon) stage, but may also overwinter as eggs, adults or, less commonly, caterpillars.
