Water levels vary substantially depending on drought conditions. When the water is high, the bird refuge lagoon often contains a variety of common gulls, ducks, grebes and phalaropes (in season). Many of these birds are tame and approachable owing to handouts from park visitors. When water levels are lower, especially in migration, check for shorebirds. Wood Ducks are present in fall and winter. Look for night-herons, egrets and cormorants roosting on the islands in the center of the lake, and walk the trail from the parking lot westward to find Marsh Wrens, Common Yellowthroats and winter sparrows. Great-tailed Grackle is now a common fixture at the Bird Refuge.

Waterfowl when the water is high; shorebirds when the water is low. A number of rarities have been spotted here including: Hooded Merganser, Red-necked Grebe, Common Moorhen, Franklin's Gull, Neotropic Cormorant, Tropical Kingbird, Eastern Kingbird, Palm Warbler, Clay-colored Sparrow, and a county record LeConte’s Sparrow was discovered here.