I never scoop birds. I don't hand feed them, and I don't touch them: they deserve their space and their freedom, and to only be interfered with in situations of (human caused) danger or (any) injury. But I found this American goldfinch feeling sitting right in the middle of an area with slow but regular traffic (foot, fat bikes and ATV's), and after hemming and hawing, imagining the guy who mows this cleared space under the powerlines coming to mow, and the dog walkers walking their dogs, I decided that this tiny creature really should be moved.

They stared at me, unmoving, until I reached to actually pick them up, at which point they shrieked and dove into the cover underneath my crouching legs. 😭 I picked them up ever so carefully and carried them to a small sumac sapling by the edge of the path, where I left them, looking baffled and outraged in the way of all young fledglings, with plenty of adult goldfinches flying around.

Edited: because I literally missed a bit of the story and it made no sense, oos