WHAT FOLLOWS is a partial and annotated list of some of the birds I have come to know and something of the story of meeting them. Each of these species can be found in Goldenʼs Birds of North America, which is to say that they figure in my relationship with Jon. As of this writing, none of them are of high concern regarding numbers, though there exists no such category as “no concern.” What this list lacks in rarity and in breadth, it compensates for with personal narrative as example of how to develop a more intimate acquaintance with individuals. It is suggested one reads this as a love story.
AMERICAN GOLDFINCH. Common at Northeast feeders year-round. The yellow of the male is like the bright sunshine of a child’s drawing. Jon marveled at how they perch atop coneflowers to pick seed out of the bulbous heads, an impossible balancing act. This is the first bird whose name I learned from him wherein I felt like a nerdy birder, though very, very far from that classification. Just to hear him say the full name: American goldfinch. It was so legitimate. These names went from ambient appearances in our day-to-day, those ongoing conversations in long-term relationships, to a name I began to use only because he’d mentioned it so often. American goldfinch. Look! Jon! There they are in the front garden. We would stand side by side in the window and count. Later, or should I say afterward, standing in the mudroom with a few friends, both a male and a female (less yellow) came to the feeder in front of us. I don’t remember why we went to the mudroom, what it was that I’d wanted to show everyone. First the male appeared, then the female.
THOUGH MOST BOOKs are written to be read, some are designed to be used, their pages flipped like a fan to find the desired information, one’s
