Larry,
Loved your story about your redwing search!! I, too, tried to spot the
bird twice when I was visiting family in Lacey last week. Besides the
plethora of robins, our highlight was a raccoon walking across the street in
the neighborhood. Another highlight was calling in a song sparrow to within
a few feet of me. Never done that before.
In the end, I had no confirmed redwing sightings, although on the
incredibly foggy day I was to fly home to northern Nevada, I did spy a bird
with what seemed to be a spotted breast. It might have been the speckling
illusion caused by looking through all those branches so high up in the
tree, so I couldn't, in good conscience, count that bird, though ... damn my
good ethics!
We also encountered many forlorn looking birders that day, some not even
willing to make eye contact lest we ask for advice on finding the redwing.
This, from a young Montana couple, who stood still on the sidewalk a half
block from us and stared hypnotically off in different directions ... I
wished them well in my mind as we had to leave the neighborhood to go to the
airport that morning. I've wondered if their relationship survived the
disappointment!
Since back home, I've subscribed to this listserve in the hopes of a
vicarious redwing sighting, and your account of also not seeing the bird was
a highlight ... thanks! Really appreciated having Tweeters available when I
was in Washington, my old stomping grounds! Hi to Dennis Paulson, my
(awesome) UW zoology prof. from the 1970s!
Linda Hiller in Jacks Valley Nevada (near Carson City and Lake Tahoe).

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
Gandhi