For those of you who have not been following the saga, I decided about 18 months ago to pursue the goal of seeing all of the Class 1, 2, and 3 birds in the ABA area. With much help from Birdchatters all over the world, in April, 1997, I was able to clear all of the Class 1 birds. In January of this year I was able to clear the Florida birds that had eluded me heretofore. This report tells of my adventure to Texas and Florida to see most of the rest.

I thank Ed Boyd, Mary Carter, Mike Collins, Andrew J. Culshaw, Bob Doe, Darius Ecker, Dave Eshbaugh, Tom Gill, Stuart Healy, Lynea Hinchman, Dave Jaspar, John C. LeVine, Mark Lockwood, Dick Palmer, Art & Hanna Richard, Peter G. Saenger, Ginger Travis, Noel Wamer, Don Wadsworth, and Dr. George C. West for their advice on places to go to see the target birds; Lucifer Hummingbird, Colima Warbler, Flammulated Owl, Varied Bunting, Strickland's Woodpecker, Five-striped Sparrow, Buff-collared Nightjar, and Rufous-winged Sparrow. The plan also included a pelagic trip with LAAS out of San

Pedro, CA to try for Least Storm-Petrel, Xantus's Murrelet and Short-tailed Shearwater.

On April 22 I fired up the motorhome and headed west. On the 23rd I reached Dallas, TX and took care of some personal business. On the 24th I drove on to Marathon, TX and spent the night at Stillwell campground, dumped the waste tanks, refilled the fresh water and rested.

Saturday, April 25, I drove into Big Bend NP and asked about the target birds at Persimmon Gap entrance station and the Visitor Center at Panther Junction. Naturalist Mark Flippo had the weekend off so I was unable to ask his advice. The naturalist on duty said that it was probably too early for the Flammulated Owl and, contrary to reports I had, were not common or easily found in Boot Canyon or anywhere else. She also said that since the park had been suffering a drought since January and nothing was in bloom yet, the Lucifer Hummingbirds had not yet arrived. The good news was that

Colima Warblers were being seen in all the canyons leading up into the high mountains and some had already arrived in Boot Canyon.

I birded Dugout Wells in hope of seeing a Varied Bunting before heading up to Chisos Basin. There was good birding there, but none of the targets.

The drive up to Chisos Basin was uneventful, although the narrow, winding road was a challenge in the motorhome. The park does not recommend the road or the Basin Campground for vehicles over 24' in length and mine is 25'. Even so, the trip was not a problem and I was able to find a campsite large enough to accommodate me.

At 2:30 or so I prepared myself for the hike up to Boot Canyon and started up the Basin Trail with the idea of hiking up the Pinnacles Trail to Boot Canyon. Although this is a harder hike, it is shorter and I thought I would arrive at Boot Canyon before dusk. With luck I could see a Colima Warbler before dark and  just after dusk, try for the

owl. As it happened, I got no further than the rear of Unit B of the Lodge when a Colima Warbler practically mugged me. I had ample time to study the bird and compare it to the field guide. A great beginning!

I got as far as Boulder Meadow on the trail but was making poor time and I knew that the difficult part of the hike was still before me. Since I had seen the Colima and had been told that the owl was unlikely, I chickened out and retraced my steps to the campground.

The following morning, I hiked the Window Trail and found that the naturalist was right, nothing was in bloom and there were no hummingbirds at all, much less a Lucifer. I met several birders on the trail, all of whom were seeing Varied Buntings. But I couldn't find even one! As we passed each other, a very nice lady said she had waited at the spot for me to catch up with her - and she pointed out the tree where she had been watching a Varied Bunting. Unfortunately, the bird had flown. We sat on a handy bench and

waited for the bird to return. We had a drink and a snack while waiting for half an hour or more. Still no bunting. Giving up in despair that this nemesis bird meant business, we walked back to the campground. On the way, she mentioned that she had seen Varied Buntings in the campground around campsite 30 the evening before. We parted and I decided to try the campsite on my way back to the motorhome. I still had some iced tea, snacks and water with me and, since the campsite was temporarily unoccupied, I sat at the table and had a light lunch. Twenty minutes later a beautiful male Varied Bunting popped up about twenty feet away and gave me a good show! Ah-h-h-h-h!

That afternoon I drove out of the Basin down to Rio Grande Village to try to find some flowering tree tobacco that Lucifer Hummingbirds were said to enjoy. When I got there, the naturalist told me that it was true but tree tobacco bloomed in the fall, not the spring. He suggested that I try the west side of the mountains by hiking up from Sam Nail Ranchsite to Oak Springs and Cattail Springs. Four o'clock found me birding the Sam Nail Ranchsite and, now that the jinx had been broken, seeing more Varied Buntings!

I drove the dirt road up to a parking area and started up the trail to Cattail and Oak Springs. I met a tour group on their way back from Cattail Springs and they said that little was in bloom and they had seen no hummingbirds at all. The tour group leader said that Blue Creek Canyon had a reported Lucifer Hummingbird the day before. I took the other trail to Oak Springs and found nothing in bloom and no hummingbirds. Oh, well.

I spend the night at Cottonwood Campground and decided to check out Blue Creek Canyon the following morning. I was at the Blue Creek Canyon overlook by 8:00 am on Monday but 'scoping the canyon showed that there only a few ocotillo were in bloom and I decided that it was probably not worth the effort to hike down into the canyon. I drove out of Big Bend toward Study Butte content to have seen two of my nemesis birds and thinking that I still had a chance for the owl and hummingbird in Arizona.

I spent the night at a commercial campground in El Paso, dumped the waste water, refilled the fresh and bought propane.

I was in Portal, AZ before noon on Tuesday, April 28. I checked the Portal Store sighting log, called Dave Jaspar for advice, and birded the feeders by the store and next door at the Jenson's. The bad news was that Dave was not answering. The good news was the Mr. Jenson was in his yard and told me that a male Lucifer Hummingbird had been coming into his feeders intermittently for several days. I waited around for about an hour looking for it, but it was not joining the Blue-throateds, Broad-taileds, Black-chinneds and Magnificents. I decided to walk the trail from Portal to the Spofford's, but could not find it.

As I was wandering around helplessly, Don Wadsworth came along and asked if he could help me. I told him about my quest, and he said he had had a female Lucifer Hummingbird at his feeders for nearly two weeks. He offered to show me the trail and walk along with me as far as his house. When we got there, he invited me to sit with him on his back porch and watch for the hummingbird. I hung out with him for over half an hour, but the bird did not appear.

As I left, he invited me to come back any time but warned me that his rental period was over on the thirtieth and the invitation was only good for the next two days.

I hoofed it on over to the Spofford's and, although there was a nice selection of birds, the Lucifer was not among them. I spoke with Sally Spofford's daughter and she said that there had been none reported at their feeders. I walked back to Portal and tried Dave Jaspar again. This time he was in and told me where there were a couple of free campgrounds up in the mountains (the map sold at the Portal Store calls them picnic areas) as well as a couple of spots to check for Flammulated Owls. He said that it was a bit early for them, though, and that he had none staked out yet. I spent the night at John Hands Campground and set the alarm for 3:30 am.

Before dawn I was driving up the South Fork of Cave Creek Canyon. I parked just outside the picnic area well before dawn and started up the South Fork Trail.

It was 5:02 am when I heard the Flammulated Owl call. I had a big Mag-lite with 4 D-cells and just for the heck of it threw a beam in the general direction of the call. Imagine my amazement when the light fell on the owl about 30' off the trail sitting on a branch 15' up the tree! What luck! What a treat! I find it hard to believe even yet! I met Dave Jaspar as I returned to the picnic area and he said a pair of the owls had nested in that vicinity last year but he didn't know they had returned.

I drove back into Portal and was watching Jenson's feeders by 8:00. At 8:05 the male Lucifer Hummingbird came into the middle feeder, stayed for a heartbeat, and left, not to return for half an hour. I decided to repeat the tour to Spofford's via Wadsworth's on the trail. I was sitting with Don on his porch at 9:00 when the female came to the closest feeder and I got to examine it for almost a minute at 8'. Wonderful!

I spent the rest of the day scouring Cave Creek Canyon, Spofford's, and the South Fork for the Strickland's Woodpecker to no avail. I did get outstanding views of an Elegant Trogon right in the South Fork picnic area so, although

disappointed about the woodpecker, certainly did not consider the time wasted.

I spoke with several people who had been across Onion Saddle to Chiricahua NM on the other side of the mountains and the consensus was that my motorhome would not have a safe trip because of the narrowness and washouts of the road.

I spent the night in a wide place in the road about a mile east of Portal and the next morning, headed for Chiricahua NM via Douglas. I arrived about noon and, after a hasty lunch, walked up the Rhyolite Canyon Trail. After about a quarter of a mile, I declared the trail a bird-free zone, having seen almost nothing and headed back. When I was about three hundred yards from the trail head I caught motion out of the corner of my eye. When I turned my head, there was a female Strickland's Woodpecker less than 50 feet away! Yes! All right!

I left Chiricahua NM immediately, figuring to make Madera Canyon before dark. On the way I stopped in Green Valley, AZ at Our Lady of the Valley RC Church to look for Rufous-winged Sparrows.

In the large undeveloped area behind the church, I walked for quite a while, finding more rattlesnakes than birds. The sun was getting low on the horizon and I decided to walk the edge of the parking lot. I'm glad I did. At 6:00 pm I found two of the sparrows just off the pavement in the SW corner of the lot. Wow!

I spent the night at Bog Springs Campground in Madera Canyon and moved on the next morning to Nogales. It is now Friday, May 1. I rented a 4-wheel drive Dodge Ram Pickup Truck, a necessity for negotiating the horrible road to California Gulch and, at dawn on the second, was turning onto FR-217 just past  Ruby, AZ. By 7:00 am I was walking into the Gulch from the south end, by 8:00 I was retracing my steps, having missed seeing anything resembling a Five-Striped Sparrow. I met Stuart Healy who was just coming into the Gulch and he asked if I had seen them yet. I told him that I had not and he told me where he and his group had just seen them, not moments before. I ran to the spot, set up my scope and heard the nondescript buzzy call. I scanned the area I thought the call came from and, at 20x, got the bird. It was very cooperative and allowed me good

views in good light at up to 60x. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! I followed Stuart out of the canyon back to Ruby where we went our separate ways. I turned in the rental car, cleaned up my motorhome and spent a second night at Mi Casa RV Park in Nogales.

Sunday I drove to Phoenix to visit my son-in-law's mother. On the way I stopped at Chino Canyon for another look at Rufous-winged Sparrows. At the dead-end of Hawk Way, I walked about a hundred yards into state land and found several in great light. While in Phoenix, since I had seen all of the target birds and had a couple of days to spare before the guided Brown Canyon walk, I called the Arizona RBA's and learned that a White-eared Hummingbird was frequenting the feeders at Mile Hi in Ramsey Canyon. Monday I drove down to Ramsey Canyon and walked in to the feeders from an RV park about half a mile down the road. By the way, those of you who like to rent a cabin at Mile Hi had better try for reservations this summer - the cabins are going to be torn down in October; only the B&B will accommodate visitors after then.

It was here that my luck ran out.

When I called home from Mile Hi at 5:30 Monday evening, my wife said that my mother was suddenly very ill and I should come home immediately. I called and cancelled the Brown Canyon tour for the Buff-collared Nightjar and the pelagic trip from San Pedro and drove that evening from Ramsey Canyon to the Tucson Airport, parked the motorhome in the long term lot, and took a plane home.

I was too late. By the time I arrived, Mom had passed away.

We have had the memorial service and started the legal and personal processes that always follow a death and I must return to Tucson to get the motorhome soon. So it may be that there will be another installment on this trip.