STILLWATER: WHY A WEB-FOOTED SHORE BIRD
FLIES 1500 MILES TO THE DESERT EVERY YEAR

A long legged shore bird, the Avocet, is well suited to water. Webbed feet and a long slender bill make it an excellent bug catcher. Fond of temperate, low lying waters, the Avocet migrates to wetlands every spring in search of a mate. Come April, hundreds will be in Fallon.

The Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge, to be more specific. The Stillwater wetlands are one of Fallon's greatest treasures. Situated along the Pacific Flyway and fed by the Carson river carrying melting snow from the Sierra Nevada mountains, the wetlands are a maze of sloughs and ponds and marshes. This is the Carson Sink. And, after years of drought, the wetlands are flourishing.

In peak years, 350,000 ducks and an equal number of shore birds use the refuge. White Faced Ibis, Snowy Plovers, Long Billed Curlews, Peregrine Falcons, Sandpipers, Tundra Swans, Great Blue Herons, and Avocets are among the hundreds of species that visit the Stillwater wetlands every year.

Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge has a variety of habitats. There are fresh water ponds and sloughs, brackish-water marshes and alkali flats. Each habitat hosts different communities of plants and invertebrates that in turn attract more than 160 species of birds and many other animals. In fact, the Lahontan Valley hosts the largest concentration of wintering Bald Eagles (as many as 70) in Nevada.

Subject to the boom and bust cycle of drought and flood, Stillwater remains in a state of yearly flux and change. It is one of the last remnants of ancient Lake Lahontan that covered western Nevada 12,000 years ago. Today, the Stillwater Wildlife Management area--over 65,000 acres--is managed and maintained by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Nevada Division of Wildlife, and the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District (TCID). The adjacent Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and Fallon NWR--over 107,500 acres--are a part of this area and are managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Plans for an interactive visitors center at Stillwater are in the works.

Hunting, fishing, camping, boating, and birding (or wildlife observation) are some of the many activities that can be engaged in at Stillwater. For more information about the refuge or management area, contact the refuge office at (775) 423-5128 or visit the office at 1000 Auction Rd., Fallon or website at http://stillwater.fws.gov/.