Wildlife Around Cache Creek
The Cache Creek watershed is home to some amazing flora and fauna, and the Cache Creek Conservancy is committed to protecting, preserving, and restoring habitats that help these plants and animals survive and thrive.
The Cache Creek Nature Preserve serves as a wildlife sanctuary to provide a home to the different insects, reptiles, birds, mammals, and plants that are native to Yolo County. For more than 25 years the Conservancy’s work has focused on restoring the appropriate habitat for the biodiversity necessary for a healthy environment.
What Wildlife Can Be Found at the Nature Preserve?
Here’s a short list of the wildlife you might see at the Cache Creek Nature Preserve:
Mammals
All sorts of furry, four-legged critters call the Cache Creek Nature Preserve home. Here’s a few you might spot while walking on one of our trails:
- Black-tailed deer
- Raccoons
- Bobcats
- Cottontail rabbits
- Jackrabbits (really, they are hares)
- River otters
- American mink
- Beavers
- Ground squirrels
- Coyotes
Birds
More than 70 species of birds have been identified at the Cache Creek Nature Preserve. Some are residential, being found year-round, and some are migratory, being found only at a particular time of the year. If you want to know more about bird migration, check out this article at The Cornell Lab.
This is a brief list of the birds you might see:
- Anna’s hummingbird
- Red-winged blackbird
- Wood Duck
- Northern Flicker
- California Scrub-Jay
- Bushtit
- Black Phoebe
- American Robin
- American Crow
- Great Egret
- Black-crowned Night-Heron
- Barn Owl
- Bald Eagle
- Osprey
The Conservancy offers a monthly bird watching program the second Saturday of the month from January through May, Don’t Wait, The Birds Await! Dates will be announced soon.
Reptiles
At the Cache Creek Nature Preserve, the most common reptiles you will see are snakes, lizards, and turtles. We have spotted the following species:
- Western Rattlesnake (venomous)
- Giant Garter Snake (threatened species)
- Racer Snake
- Western Fence lizard
- California Alligator Lizard
- Western Pond Turtle (threatened species)