When I peeked out in the backyard this morning, the sky was gray and the bushes blew about in the wind – but despite the nasty day, there was a bit of sunshine sitting on my bird feeder – my first of fall American Goldfinch!  Although the goldfinches lack their colorful yellow plumage at this time of year, they cheer me up with their little calls of “potato chip!” and “baby!”  I was surprised to see this guy today, as the weather is still very warm and goldfinches are opportunistic migrators.  I figured I wouldn’t see any until colder weather drove them south.  I’m glad I was wrong!