It’s a big, beautiful world out there. Please enjoy it responsibly. Editor's note: This is NOT to be confused with the book The Goldfinch, which I started and hated so much I couldn't finish it. If you told me when I moved to central Pennsylvania that I would end up being a bird watcher...a bird watcher???...I would have told you that you were clearly rambling, suffering the ill effects of sleep deprivation or a crack binge or something. And yet. We got the cats, and I put up the bird feeder for them because it would provide them with kitty-style reality TV...I said to myself. Now, when there are interesting birds in the yard? I throw the cats out of the room with the good bird-watching window and shut the door so they can't get in. That's when I get camera time. So I got super-excited when I saw goldfinches show up in the yard last week. Spring is coming! Finally! It's been a long, cold winter, and I've been waiting and waiting and waiting to see something other than starlings and grackles. (Which I actually think are pretty birds, but they're kind of bird-jerks. I digress.) This fellow was caught with a honking big seed sticking out of his mouth. Note the lighter patches on his feathers and his beak's still partly black; this fellow is still having a bit of a molt. His molt seems a little late, but like I said, long, cold winter. So glad to see them again.