Join BirdNote tomorrow, November 30th!
Illustrator David Sibley and actor H. Jon Benjamin will face off in the bird illustration battle of the century during BirdNote's Year-end Celebration and Auction!
Stock Tank - A Southwestern Oasis
Amid the dust and mesquite, a dense grove of trees!
© Wayne Dumbleton
In the southeast corner of Arizona, the roads are dusty, the mesquites scraggly. But in the middle of it all is a dense grove of trees with lush, green foliage. It’s an oasis of sorts, made possible by what in the Southwest is called a tank – short for stocktank or watering tank. A rickety windmill spins in the hot air, powering a pump lifting water from far below ground to fill a large rectangular pond. A manmade oasis for livestock becomes an oasis for bird life, as well – Blue Grosbeaks, Hooded Orioles, Green Herons, and more. A flash of red marks an aerial sortie by a Vermilion Flycatcher, like this one. These birds all take shelter in the trees of the oasis.
Today’s show is brought to you by The Bobolink Foundation.
BirdNote®
The Tank, a Southwest Oasis
Written by Bob Sundstrom
This is BirdNote.
[Cactus Wren’s rough song]
In the southeast corner of Arizona, a Cactus Wren sings in an open stretch of desert. The roads are dusty, the mesquites scraggly, but in the distance, appears a dense grove of trees with lush, green foliage. How’s this possible?
It’s an oasis of sorts, made possible by what in the Southwest is called a tank – short for stocktank or watering tank. A rickety windmill spins in the hot air, powering a pump lifting water from far below ground to fill a large rectangular pond, dug out by a rancher and enclosed by earthen walls [rickety windmill spilling water into a tank]. In much of the Southwest, water is scarce. Native habitats endure just fine, but when ranchers add livestock, they have to provide a reliable supply of water.
[Blue Grosbeak song]
A manmade oasis for livestock becomes an oasis for bird life, as well. The sweet song of a Blue Grosbeak carries from a shrub near the tank. [Repeat Blue Grosbeak song] A flash of red marks an aerial sortie by a Vermilion Flycatcher. [Vermilion Flycatcher song] A Hooded Oriole, a bright orange beacon, sings near its sack-like nest in a palm. [Hooded Oriole song]
And when a steer wanders by for a drink, a Green Heron flushes from the water’s edge, [Green Heron skeow! call] to take shelter in the trees of the oasis.
BirdNote’s producer is John Kessler. Today’s show is brought to you by The Bobolink Foundation. [Hooded Oriole] I’m Michael Stein.
###
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Song of the Cactus Wren 118614 recorded by G.A. Keller; song of Blue Grosbeak by W.R. Fish; song of Vermilion Flycatcher 105508 by G.A. Keller; song of Hooded Oriole 45180 by G.A. Keller; calls of Green Heron 107437 by W.L. Hershberger.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2014 Tune In to Nature.org July 2016 Narrator: Michael Stein
ID# tank-01-2012-07-19tank-01
Rickety windmill sound from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvmEoAVABfM&feature=related
Sights & Sounds
