Confessions of a First-Time FLAPPER I first learned about FLAP from a televised funding drive for the World Wildlife Fund. I was soon booked to meet Volunteer Coordinator Maureen Flynn on an early autumn morning. As the week progressed I became anxious. I'd never caught a bird before, how could I be sure not to hurt him? I was getting sweaty palms just thinking about it. The first thought to hit me when I woke to the alarm buzzing at 4AM was that FLAP volunteers must be morning people. My anxiety level rose another notch. But, fortified by a coffee I made my way into Toronto. Its daunting towers of artificial light held a special poignancy. I wondered how the birds saw them just before they hit that shining glass. I met Maureen and another volunteer, Colleen Brzezicki. Not the chipper morning people of my nightmares, they were relying on caffeine and their love of birds to see them through! But it was a quiet day for us with only two dead: an Ovenbird and a Yellow Warbler. Later, at the FLAP workshop we learned to identify the more confusing species. Dead birds from the previous season (which had been kept in a freezer) were then photographed for the FLAP Website. What an image: species after species lined up in rows, mounting casualties of ecological damage. Some I'd never seen before. Many were small and delicate with beautiful colourations. As I lined up the tiny corpses, I ran a mantra through my mind: "I will not cry, I will not cry…" The following Sunday was shaping up to be a good day for the birds - we had covered a lot of territory and hadn't found any. But that was about to change! Ahead of me was the Toronto Dominion tower, its illumination trumpeting its presence in the darkness. Within its ominous glow was the silhouette of a tiny bird hunched inside the revolving doors. How lost and cold that Common Yellowthroat looked. As we looked at each other I wondered which of us was more scared. With my courage apparently still at home, snuggling under the covers, I passed the net to my companion and whispered: "You'd better catch him". But my first catch came soon after when I netted a Palm Warbler. Nervously I reached into the net and took him in the grip I had been shown - the famous Bander's Grip - which would allow me to hold the bird without hurting him. He was very squirmy, so I quickly transferred him to a paper bag. I did it and no harm done! Another time Maureen and I spotted a gull chasing a small bird from the TD square. They both went up and over the glassed corridor. We ran as fast as possible all the way around the TD Bank building, fearing the worst. In the linkway there was no sign of either bird. But a thorough check of the area yielded up a Winter Wren hiding behind one of the beams. He had thwarted the gull! Later in the season I netted a weary migrant. When I transferred him to a paper bag he let out the most indignant squawks - always a good sign! But he didn't seemed to have a tail, or was he just another Winter Wren? Time to call in the experts. I asked Lori Nichols to examine the bird and she identified him as a Song Sparrow, sans tail. Lori then took him back to her home-based clinic for some R&R. I have a lot to learn and I still get anxious. But with the help of other FLAPPERs I am learning quickly. For spring migration I think I'll invest in an espresso maker! Michele Burley Michele is anxious for spring migration to begin.