OFO News February 2023 5 banded as its legs were still soft and fleshy. It was likely just out of the nest. We released it immediately. I discovered that American Redstarts are quite wriggly and Yellow Warblers are really quiet. And woodpeckers such as Northern Flicker hammer somewhat painfully on your hand when you extract them. MY FAVOURITE BIRD TO BAND was the Cedar Waxwing. I liked the silkiness of its feathers and the plastic feel of its red waxy feather tips. One waxwing pooped on my hands. The poop was blue, and I learned that was be- cause of the berries the waxwing ate. I found banding flycatchers interesting because they have rictal bristles around their beak, like whiskers. Identifying the individual species is always a challenge. Sometimes, I let the birds bite me. A Northern Cardinal’s bite was the most painful that I experienced. While banding, you can put a ruler in its mouth to avoid getting bitten. The bites of Northern Mockingbirds and House Sparrows are not as bad but still unpleasant. Gray Catbird bites feel like clothes- pins, and warblers don’t hurt. After banding, we had different activities every day. Once, we went to the Birds Canada office for a field sketching work- shop, where I painted a Canada Warbler. I also drew a dia- gram of feather tracts on a Clay-coloured Sparrow for a molt assignment. My favourite afternoon activity was watching a demon- stration on preparing study skins. Halfway through, we saw an Eastern Foxsnake (an endangered species) on the wooden deck outside and paused to go look at it. I got to hold the snake, and it glided through my hands and up my arm. I found both the snake and the demonstration fascinating. MY FAVOURITE PART OF THE WORKSHOP was imitating a Barred Owl’s “who cooks for you” calls and hearing one hoot back! We hooted back and forth for a bit before other people located it. I also spotted and photographed an out-of-season Olive- sided Flycatcher — only one of two recorded that year. Another highlight was an out-of-range Northern Bobwhite. The workshop was amazing for learning about birds and natural history in general. We went mothing several times, searching for sphinx moths, which are huge. They are larger than a Ruby-throated Hummingbird but don’t like lights. If you shine a bright light at them, they are temporarily stunned and will hold relatively still. We also took a night walk to see Fowler’s Toad and tried to catch a Twelve-spotted Skim- mer, a dragonfly. I enjoyed the experience so much I intend to volunteer at the Long Point Bird Observatory this year. Raspberry Yow-Fairs is a 15-year-old, home-educated birder, bird illustrator, OFO member and corvid aficionado based in Toronto. She curates a cabinet of curiosities based on found nature and is always looking for deceased creatures. She expects to pursue a career in ornithology. Some individual flycatchers are notoriously difficult to identify, even in hand during banding. BELOW. Purple Martins were plentiful and exciting to watch at Long Point. Photos by Raspberry Yow-Fairs Raspberry drew this Clay-colored Sparrow for a class on feather molts, adding scientific terminology for the bird’s parts.