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<strong>A bird visiting the United States has caught the attention of all its avian lovers and why shouldn&rsquo;t it be as this is the first time a bat falcon has been seen in the country, as per a report smithsonianmag.com.</strong></p>
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Bird lovers from all over have been visiting Texas to catch a glimpse of this bird which is normally seen in Mexico, and Central and South America.</p>
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Talking about this species to Border Report, Jeffrey Gordon who was earlier president of the American Birding Association said: <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-bat-falcon-was-spotted-for-the-first-time-in-the-united-states-180979605/?utm_source=smithsoniandaily&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=20220222-daily-responsive&amp;spMailingID=46439702&amp;spUserID=MTI4MDgxMTczNjcwMgS2&amp;spJobID=2182519307&amp;spReportId=MjE4MjUxOTMwNwS2" rel="nofollow">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s got everything going</a> for it. It&rsquo;s rare. It&rsquo;s spectacular and it&rsquo;s a bird of prey. It&rsquo;s showing up in a great location. It&rsquo;s the perfect storm in the birding world.&rdquo;</p>
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A small bird which is carnivore, the bat falcon&rsquo;s belly is rust coloured while its throat is white. Their staple diet is large insects, birds, bats, and small rodents which they prey either at dawn or dusk.</p>
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It is categorised as &ldquo;Least Concern&rdquo; by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, though degradation and loss of habitat is bringing down their numbers.</p>
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The Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge wrote on Facebook that it is likely that this Texas falcon is juvenile because it has &ldquo;buff-(cinnamon) throat and (chest) bars&rdquo; while &ldquo;judging by the thickness of the tarsus and beak&rdquo;, it seems to be a male.</p>
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Though it is not known why this bird has strayed so far from its territory, the U.S. Fish &amp; Wildlife Service in its comments on Facebook mentioned that the range of these birds &ldquo;definitely seems to be expanding (according to birdwatching data from the last few decades) but we don&#39;t know why.&rdquo;</p>
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Houston Museum of Natural Science curator of vertebrate zoology Dan Brooks told Houston Chronicle that maybe the bird became a little bold and adventurous to venture far from home due to climate change. Having said that he informed Chronicle: &quot;When it leaves, there&#39;s no guarantee he&#39;ll come back.&rdquo;</p>
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Peter Witt, who clicked the falcon sitting on a branch with a large dragonfly in its beak revealed: &ldquo;We could see him fly off from a tree shag perch, skim the lake, grab an insect and return to chow down, then rest a bit and repeat. We watched him for about 20 minutes… a wonderful and unique experience.&rdquo;</p>
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<strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.indianarrative.com/science-news/albatross-couples-could-be-separated-by-climate-change-130779.html">Albatross couples could be separated by Climate Change</a></strong></p>
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In February 4,000 birders had come to the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge to catch a glimpse of this falcon and one of them was 77-year-old Ray Sharpton, who is retired and drove 34 hours from New York to see the bird. &ldquo;I first heard about the bat falcon on eBird alert. I&rsquo;ve been watching it on the computer and finally one day I said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m going!&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
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Joe Barnett, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service deputy refuge manager added: &ldquo;Somebody even came from Europe, so it&rsquo;s drawing a lot of attention.&rdquo;</p>
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