Today I was driving the tram at Santa Ana NWR and John was leading the tour when I spotted a bobcat! By the time I could slow down and say "bobcat," the cat had crossed the road and disappeared into the woods. John turned around, but didn't see it. Some of the tram riders saw it, too. This is really exciting. This is the only wildcat seen here on the refuge. One is spotted every few days by someone, but in the six weeks we have been here, we had never seen one. Now I have.
We have seen a Texas Land Tortoise, javelina, armadillo, and Chachalaca. Today I saw three Cardinals fly across the road as we drove around. But a bobcat is special. We have never seen one except in a zoo.
It was a busy day that required lots of flexibility. The US Fish and Wildlife Chief's meeting is being held in the Rio Grande Valley this week. That means the supervisors of the regional offices and other high-level supervisors from around the country were here. This afternoon they had a field trip that included a visit to Santa Ana. It was our refuge's turn to show off the tram interpretation tours. Since we were on duty today, I gave the tour. But the plans changed four times between 7:30 am when we arrived and 3:15 pm when the group of chiefs arrived.
At 3:30 we started a condensed and modified version of our regular tour for about 22 chiefs and our own refuge manager, who we hardly know. It was all stressful, but it went well and they were all really fun people.
It sure was good to come home, relax and talk about our day. That is what is fun about living this lifestyle with my best friend.
That's great you finally got to see a bobcat!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a very stressful day, not only having to lead the tour for the Chiefs, but also having to modify your regular tour. Glad it went well.