Faria Dairy pond (access restricted since 2016)

Faria Dairy pond (access restricted since 2016)

9252 Kansas Settlement Road Willcox, Arizona 85643

Tips for Birding

The property is posted as "Visitors by Appointment Only, Mon-Fri 8 am-5 pm, 520-766-2100".

This is a discrete, location-specific hotspot. If you are birding elsewhere in the Kansas Settlement area, please use a personal hotspot or the more general Kansas Settlement Road hotspot, and indicate in your checklist comments where you observed.

Birds of Interest

The primary attraction here is winter waterfowl. A Eurasian Wigeon was observed January-February 2024. 

Birders should be prepared to differentiate between Mallard and Mexican Duck.

Chihuahuan and Common Raven, along with Western and Chihuahuan Meadowlark, can also present identification challenges at this hotspot.

About this Location

Riverview LLP, a large multi-state integrated farming and dairy company, bought the Faria Dairy in Kansas Settlement in late 2014. Riverview's operation at the hotspot is known as Coronado Farms, which is how the main gate off Kansas Settlement Road is signed. You cannot see the pond from Kansas Settlement Road due to a double row of evergreens, but must go through the gate and turn right (south). Weekdays, you may call the number on posted signs to request permission to enter.

Riverview, by far the largest farming operation in the area, grows most of the feed for its 75,000-plus head of stock on over 37,000 acres south of Willcox. This includes alfalfa, silage corn, wheat, and possibly triticale, watered by some 200 center-pivot irrigation centers, which create huge green crop circles seen from the road. Riverview has sunk over 80 wells into the Sulphur Springs Valley aquifer, some up to 1000 feet deep, to supply the irrigation water.

About Kansas Settlement

See all hotspots at Kansas Settlement

The Kansas Settlement is an Arizona farming community with a rich history, steeped in financial dramas and teeming with interesting stories and characters. It is situated within the Sulphur Springs Valley… an almost legendary place of boom and bust, a land where fortunes can quickly be made but more quickly lost. It was (and is) the place of dreams, successes, and fond memories, but also the place of countless financial disasters and ruination for reasons somewhat perplexing, and somewhat veiled.

The Sulphur Springs Valley is in southeastern Arizona (Cochise County) and the "Kansas Settlement," a seemingly outdated description for an Arizona locale, is the given name for a large productive farming area in its center. The northern edge of the Kansas Settlement is about 10 miles south of the town of Willcox.

Features

  • Restrooms on site

  • Wheelchair accessible trail

  • Entrance fee

Content from John Montgomery

Last updated February 14, 2024