The reading of omens is a concept that appears over and over throughout human history, including such varied sources as bird flight, cards, and entrails. There’s a term for each of those, but the catch-all word for it is augury.
Though the word is uncommon, the idea is not. Groundhog Day is a great modern example of it, and I’m sure we’ve all looked for a sign at some point to help reach a decision, or to prove that we’ve made a right one.
There is a beautiful opportunity here to segue into logical fallacies like confirmation bias, but we’ll save that for another day; for now, I’ll leave this American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) to speak its own piece.
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