[wisb] For those who have birded or lived in southern AZ: Willow Tank
- From: Chris West <little_blue_birdie@xxxxxxx>
- To: "[Wisb]" <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:39:52 -0600
Hey everyone,
The following was posted by my friend Jackie Lewis of Paradise, AZ.
I thought some of you might want to know about this:
"We have an opportunity to keep an important wildlife water source and bird
watching area open in the Chiricahuas. Donations are needed.Please read the
information below. If you wish to make a donation to keep Willow Tank and its
dependent wildlife alive, please send a check to Chiricahua Regional Council,
P.O. 16361, Portal, AZ 85632. Please write Willow Tank somewhere on your
check.forwarded by Jackie Lewis, The George Walker House, Paradise, AZ"
PLEASE DO NOT HIT THE REPLY BUTTON! The message below is from the Chiricahua
Regional Council regarding Willow Tank:Dear Portal and Rodeo residents and
visitors,For many years, Willow Tank, a few miles southwest of Rodeo and about
a mile west of Stateline Road on Sulphur Canyon Road, has been an exceptionally
valuable source of water for birds and other wildlife. As such, it has been a
regular stopover for multitudes of birders visiting the Portal/Rodeo area, Cave
Creek Canyon, and the Chiricahua and Peloncillo Mountains. It has also been a
valuable teaching and learning resource for students and researchers at the
American Museum of Natural Historys Southwestern Research Station.If you visit
Willow Tank and spend some time watching quietly, you appreciate the number and
variety of birds that depend on the pond for water, insects, aquatic
vegetation, and cover. Visitors earlier in the day may have caused ducks to
flee, but in recent weeks, Mallard, Mexican Duck, Cinnamon and Green-winged
Teal, Shoveler, Pintail, Canvasback and Ring-necked Duck, Great Blue Heron,
Virginia Rail, Sora, Marsh Wren, and others have all been recorded. Regularly,
in winter, Chestnut-collared Longspurs, now getting their full color, drop out
of the sky for a quick drink. Depending on the time of year, a steady stream of
sparrows, etc., comes in, and there may be flocks of Lark Bunting,
Yellow-headed Blackbirds, or even migrating Willets. Kingbirds and Vermilion
Flycatchers put on a show during the nesting season. Willow Tank at dusk is a
great place in summer to watch Lesser Nighthawks at close range.The 1-acre pond
is on private property, but the late Ed Rivers and his family have kindly
allowed access for birders and others all these years. After a combination of
drought years and high pumping costs made it infeasible for the Rivers family
to continue growing irrigated crops, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
installed solar panels and a solar water pump to keep water flowing into the
tank. This equipment certainly helped but could not keep up with our areas
high evaporation and percolation rates.In 2008, an out-of-state individual, who
specializes in wildlife habitat restoration projects on private land, gave
$8,000 to the Chiricahua Regional Council. Thanks to that donation, and to
Larry Rivers pumping water whenever needed, Willow Tank had water continuously
for the next three years. Then, in 2011, both the solar pump and the irrigation
pump stopped working, quite possibly due to a lightning strike.A prompt $5,000
donation by a major foundation to the Council made it possible to replace the
solar pump, add two solar panels, and pay the electrical bill for the
irrigation pump for a few more months. Donations from birders as far away as
Washington State, Maine, and Santa Fe, plus a $500 donation from a local
resident, have kept water in Willow Tank virtually all the time since.But now
the coffer is almost dry. If the tank dries up as well, considerable time will
likely be needed just to seal the ensuing cracks in the tank bottom.If you wish
to make a donation to keep Willow Tank and its dependent wildlife alive, please
send a check to Chiricahua Regional Council, P.O. 16361, Portal, AZ 85632.
Please write Willow Tank somewhere on your check.Your donation is
tax-deductible, and 100 percent will be used to pay for water pumping. You will
receive a receipt giving our IRS 501.c.3 number.Pumping costs have averaged
just under $200 per month, but any amount you wish to donate will help greatly
-- and will be much appreciated!Thanks so much!Wynne Brown, PresidentAlan
Craig, Treasurer
P.S. Many thanks, for their time, donations, and labor over the years, to
Geoff Bender, Bob Dearing, Edward Elbrock, Dave Jasper, Mark Luckadoo, Pete
Miller, Nick Paizis, Reed Peters, Terrie and Larry Gates, Bunch Swift, Charles
Travers, Norberto Acosta, Renaldo Muñez, Luis Mendoza, Don Wadsworth, Peter
Waser, John Yerger, and others of the informal Friends of Willow Tank group.
Special thanks to Larry Rivers for his cooperation and for his many hours of
labor, many if not most of which were after dark when electric rates were
lower, pumping water into Willow Tank.Extra-special thanks to the late Penny
Johnston for being the driving force inspiring folks to keep Willow Tank alive.
Happy Birding! --Chris W, Richland CountyTour leader Swallowtail Birding Tours
https://www.facebook.com/Swallowtailbirdingtours?ref=hl
Interpretive Naturalist Mississippi Explorer Cruises
http://mississippiexplorer.com/chris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://swallowtailedkite.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/swallowtailphoto
"The beauty and genius of a work of art may be reconceived, though its first
material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony may yet again inspire the
composer; but when the last individual of a race of living things breathes no
more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be
again."
(From William Beebe's "The Bird: Its Form and Function," 1906)
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