About 8 years ago I was at Desert View near the east entrance to Grand Canyon National Park, in December. I was walking through the campground, which is deserted at that time of year. In the middle of the asphalt drive was a large wading bird with long legs about the size of a small egret. When I approached it, it became agitated, like it was hyperventilating, but it couldn’t fly away. It must have been exhausted. I was afraid a coyote would get it. The next day when I returned to the same location it was gone, and there were no signs like feathers that a predator had gotten it.
Later I looked at field guides and concluded based on the markings that it was a black necked stilt. It belonged in wetlands in a place like California. My theory is that it flew up the Colorado River, from southern California perhaps, then flew a couple of hundred miles upstream in the Grand Canyon, which is not its natural habitat; but maybe it could have found fish and amphibians to eat along the edge of the river. To arrive at the Desert View campground it would have had to ascend 4000 feet in altitude to the rim of the canyon. Perhaps it rode a thermal to do that.
A quarter of a mile from where I found the bird there are some wastewater treatment ponds - they could have attracted it as well.
I’m been near some bat bridges near Austin and the guano scent is almost overpowering, so I admire your ability to get that close (then again, those bridges were over land, and the Congress Avenue bridge is over water, so maybe it smells less).
The bats are also under the bridge at McNeil & I-35 in Round Rock, which borders Austin.
I was once stuck in traffic Northbound 35 on the McNeil overpass and saw a hawk sitting on one of the guardrail posts as the bats emerged…then it took off into the cloud of hundreds of emerging bats and snagged one out of mid-air, and returned to the post to eat it.
Stilts are mostly eating invertebrates, they need muddy or sandy surface on the water edge to feed.
Just a couple of days ago my wife found a completely flattened (I mean really flattened, like it had been repeatedly run over for a week or so) Northern Pacific Tree Frog (probably) on our kitchen floor. We guess that it must have been squashed in the road and one of us stepped on it without noticing and tracked it in.
Under the hood of a rental car. We were in Portugal looking for wildflowers when a couple asked for help jump-starting their vehicle. Lifted the hood and there was a very pretty moth! Exciting because we don’t get such pretty ones in Nova Scotia. I was disappointed that it was not alive, but it was in good condition and that did allow me to get some photos. 
Euchlo crameri (Western Dappled White)
more at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/32673533
I found a live Painted Turtle under a dead raccoon on the side of the road.
The Colorado River in the Grand Canyon has some sandy or muddy edges, I believe. I did see a leech in the water once near Lee’s Ferry.
Okay, I changed the setting to public
https://www.facebook.com/jason.hernandez.33234/posts/10216543532324970
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