Back on December 8th, someone took a photo of a bird at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in Texas and posted it to a social media site. It was eventually identified as a Bat Falcon, which represented the first United States record! The bird, normally found from Mexico south into South America, was refound ten days later and continued to be seen by many birders over the next few weeks. I put off going because of the busy holiday season, the many flight cancellations, and an appointment that I would've had trouble rescheduling. Since many of my birding friends had either already gone or we're going soon, I would have to do this trip solo. After New Year's, I seriously started watching the reports and checking flights to Texas. I only looked at non-stop flights because I didn't want to end up stuck at some airport in between here and there. I was surprised to find a non-stop flight to Houston for $207.00 round trip! With gas prices the way they are, I wouldn't have been able to drive there for that amount. So, I set up my trip to leave early on the 6th and return late on the 10th, giving me a full three days in between. I left the house at 2 AM on Thursday, the 6th, headed for Newark Airport, boarded my plane, and arrived at Houston at around 8:30 AM.
I got my bag and my rental car pretty quickly, put everything into the car, and headed for the highway. Everything was going ahead of schedule until I noticed the "Low Oil Level" light on the dash! Ugghhh! So, I turned around and headed back to the rental car center. I told them the situation and asked them if they could have someone check it out. They told me that I would have to go back into the counter and get another car. I held off on the swear words and said something like, "You gotta be kidding me!" I had to repack all of my things, walk all the way back in to the counter, get issued another car, walk all the way back out to it, and then get resettled into this second one. I lost about an hour in the process but was once again attacking my 6-hour drive to south Texas.
In order to get to Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge before dark, I kept driving, stopping once for food and once for gas. It was tough driving past perched Crested Caracaras and Harris's Hawks, but there would most likely be chances for them later. I got to the refuge around 5:30 and walked the short distance to the "entrance pole" along Highway 281 where the falcon often spent some time before heading to roost for the night. I and about fifty other birders waited, but the bird was a 'no-show'. I stopped to get something to eat and then headed for the LaQuinta Inn in the town of Pharr where I had previously booked a room.
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