Hello Tweets and other birders,

The Redwing was noted this morning after a 2 day absence in Olympia between 8:40am-10:45am by many observers from Washington and abroad. The bird was first located at the established location along Decatur Street just south of 4th Ave.,where it flew in from an unknown location at 8:40am,then perched atop a deciduous tree with several Am.Robins and Starling. The bird remained in the deciduous tree for about 1 minute,then flew off to the southwest with 2 Am.Robins,where it was soon relocated along 5th Ave. within 5-8 minutes by a few other birders,who hadn't seen it at the previous location. Many birders arrived along 5th Ave.,where the bird was seen briefly in a large deciduous tree,then in a Holly tree between Rogers and Plymouth Streets. Many birders remained at this location for about 15 minutes,until birders on Rogers Street called into the FRS radios that the bird was on Rogers Street north of 4th Ave. All the birders raced over to Rogers Street,where many of us were given good scoping views of the Redwing near the top of a large deciduous tree near the intersection of Harrison Ave. The bird remained at this location for several minutes with a small group of Am.Robins and Starlings until the many of the birds began to fly to the northeast over Harrison Ave.,then finally the Redwing too. Many birders thoroughly scoured and searched the side streets northeast of Harrison Ave. and Rogers Street,but were unable to relocate the Redwing,but plenty of Am.Robin activity was noted.

An hour or so went by then another call came at 10:45am in on our FRS radio that the Redwing was in the alley between Cushing and Milroy Streets just south of Harrison Ave.,but many birders had missed that sighting. A group of us quickly rushed over to the location as quick as we could via cars and on foot,but the bird was observed flying to the east of Milroy Street towards Rogers Street. Many birders remained in the general vicinity between Cushing and Rogers throughout the remainder of the day,but the Redwing was not seen up to the time we left at 3pm. Perhaps other birders stayed longer in the area with news reporters,etc and refound the bird and will post their sightings. Conditions were great all day after some minor fog moved away in the morning turning to mostly sunny skies,but then turning very cloudy by 1:30pm. Despite the Redwing not being seen after 11am many birders remained in the vicinity to help with the search.

It was a great showing of the Redwing today and most all the birders that came early did see the bird to end the year and more are expected tomorrow to begin 2005! Great effort was made on foot and having FRS helped alot with communication,as well as many spotting scopes keeping track on the bird. It is hard to know where the bird went to after 10:45am since it has proven the most elusive to locate during the daytime. Along with seeing the Redwing again for the 4th time it was a pleasure to meet Jon Dunn from California, a well-known,recognized birder and full-time WINGS tour leader along several other titles he currently holds. We also met Macklin Smith,who holds the most species for North America ranking #1 on the ABA list(with over 860 species to date),who arrived on 29th from Michigan to finally see the Redwing today. We are sure he was very happy after seeing this bird! We also met a few other "top" birding enthusiasts from across the country,as well as locally. It was a great day for most everyone with approximately 50 birders that saw the Redwing today.

A few other notable sightings encountered by walking the many side streets in the vicinity included the following:

1 adult White-throated Sparrow(white-striped form)along a north-south alleyway along Jackson Ave. between Percival Street and Grand View Ave.(north of Harrison Ave.) that was observed by several birders. This striking bird was observed foraging on the ground on spilt seed with a few "Dark-eyed"Oregon"Juncos and Golden-crowned Sparrows.

1 Red-breasted Sapsucker at the corner of 4th Ave. and Cushing Street.

several Western Scrub Jays in the area and a single Red-tailed Hawk noted circling north of Harrison Ave.



Good birding and Happy New Year,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest,WA
godwit at worldnet.att.net