As promised here is the field trip report for the nemesis Basham Class 1 birds I asked about last month. You may recall that the only Class 1 birds I was missing from my life list were: Ross's Goose, Red-naped Sapsucker, Gray Flycatcher, Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow, and Black Rosy-finch. I asked for sure-fire locations in April and was rewarded with a variety of suggestions from many of you. The plan was to fire up the motorhome in mid-April and not come home until I had seen them all.

On April 13 I began the quest, having already decided that the sparrow would require a separate effort in Maine later in the summer. Joan Weinmayer had given me excellent directions to some feeders in Idaho where the Rosy-finches had been seen regularly all winter and Luke Cole said they are "a common feeder bird there for at least a few more weeks." They were right and on April 16 at 8:30 a.m. I found them within two blocks of the location Joan suggested.

Also put Hepburn's subspecies of the Gray-crowned Rosy-finch "in the bank" as she advised in case of a split.

Tom Crabtree had told me that Ross's Goose would still be found at Malheur NWR in Oregon in April, so that was my next stop. On the evening of the sixteenth I was there studying a flock of several hundred Snow Geese and, as the sun was setting, made a positive identification of the Ross's while Common Snipe whinnied overhead. I spend the night in Burns and moved on to Sisters, OR the next day. I birded several spots in Burns, Bend and Sisters with no luck, so on Friday, I called Tom. He suggested that I call Dean Hale, a man with comprehensive knowledge of the county birds, and see if he could suggest some spots for the flycatcher and sapsucker. Dean offered to go out with me the following morning and he and Howard Horvath took me on a tour of the local hotspots. We found an early Hammond's Flycatcher, but no Gray. We did, however, find a

Red-naped Sapsucker at Aspen Camp on the Deschutes River. Three down, one to go! (We also looked for a bonus bird - Northern Pygmy-owl - but had no luck.)

Then it was off to Nevada, Utah, and Colorado to search for a Gray Flycatcher, the last of the target birds. The Nevada Fish and Game folks in Elko, NV were extremely helpful, but I was just too early for the Flycatcher and much too early for the Himalayan Snowcock. In Salt Lake City, I called Jules Dreyfus (the only A/C in the ABA directory) and he tried hard to locate someone who had seen a Gray Flycatcher recently, but again, it was too early.

Birding Magazine (June, 1991) had an article on Birding Utah which recommended Dinosaur National Monument for the Gray Flycatcher, so that was my next stop. The DNM checklist indicated that the bird was uncommon at best, so it was on to Grand Junction, CO to the Colorado National Monument to try my luck there,

This spot for Gray Flycatcher is mentioned in Pettingill's, very old but still useful, _Birding West of the Mississippi_. Unfortunately, the bird had not been recorded there since 1987. I called, at the suggestion of the staff at CNM, the Colorado Bird Observatory who said that at this early date, the best bet would be along the New Mexico border. I also called Aileen Lotz (A/B in the ABA directory and also recommended by the CNM staff) who is a very active birder in the Grand Junction area and she said I might try a nearby spot north of Rabbit Valley, but she feared I was too early for the bird. She was right.

I then returned to Utah, this time further south, near Cedar City to explore an area described by Steven Hedges in the ABA Bird-finding Guide. I drove the route he mapped and had no luck. Since he is listed in the ABA Directory as D/A I did not call him and decided that I was not going to see this bird - AGAIN!

However, I was, by this time quite near Zion National Park (a real attraction for me since I discovered the Bumbleberry Inn in Springerdale several years ago and its exceptional Bumbleberry Pie) which in turn is not far from the Vermillion Cliffs area in Arizona with California Condors! It is now the 24th of April and I am beginning to regret my pledge to not come home until I have seen all the birds I was after. My luck hit its low over the next couple of days - I had to pay an extra $10 to drive the motorhome through the tunnels at Zion, the Bumbleberry Inn was out of pie, and the drive to Pipe Springs National Monument was long and uninteresting. The only redeeming feature was the Lesser Goldfinches in the Native American Campground near PSNM.

I stopped for gas in Jacob Lake, AZ early on the morning of the 25th and got into conversation with the owner of the gas station and lodge. It turned out that he also owned a ranch in the valley below and knew that the "Peregrine Fund Guy" parked on the road to his ranch to monitor the Condors. He kindly gave me directions to his ranch and told me exactly where to find him, if the birds were in the area.

I drove down the hill and found Shawn Farry precisely where he was supposed to be. All five of the Condors were out and easily seen through the spotting scope. I watched them and talked with Shawn for the better part of an hour. He also showed me the hacking box from which the condors had been released and from which 9 more are scheduled to be released soon.

Reinvigorated, I moved on to Mesa Verde National Park which is in Colorado just a short distance from Four Corners National Monument. Again, the source was Pettingill's book. I spent the night in Moorefield Village Campground (the first night it was open for the season) and went down to the Visitors Center first thing on the morning of the 26th. A staff member there, on hearing of my quest, said I should speak to a supervisor named Linda Martin who is a birder and was on duty at the moment in the Museum. I sought out Linda and she told me she had heard a flycatcher on a trail behind the staff housing area just a day or two before. She drew me a map and I followed it to see my final nemesis bird, the Gray Flycatcher, exactly where she said it might be!

Nothing breeds greed-birding like success and it seemed silly to head home directly when I was so close to a Class 2 nemesis bird for me, the Mountain Plover. I went from Mesa Verde to Laramie, Wyoming and drove a route mapped by Oliver Scott in the ABA Bird-finding Guide. Lucky me! There were two Mountain Plovers in the road and I watched them for a quarter hour before they moved too far off into the grass to be seen easily.

From there it was homeward bound and I returned on April 29, seventeen days, 6,721 miles, and five life birds (six if one counts the Condors) after beginning the trip.

Only one more Class 1 bird and I will have seen them all (at least until the splitters strike again.) Thanks to all of you who have helped me in the effort. I'll post again after the trip to Maine for the Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow. Then I'll be seeking advice on the dozen or so Class 2 birds still absent from my list!