Big Bird’s Swan Song

In case you haven’t heard, Caroll Spinney is retiring. This giant of a man who touched the lives of countless millions of children is finally flying the coop. Put another way, he’s ready to sing his “Swan Song.” We don’t know if he’s migrating to Pelican Bay for the winter or if he’ll join the next flight to the Canary Islands, but we can be sure of this: throughout his career, he’s had a wonderful bird’s eye view of the world. So why, you ask does Mr. Spinney call forth such fanciful flights of imagination? It’s because Caroll Spinney is the man who for 50 years, has given life to the character Big Bird (and Oscar the Grouch) on the famed children’s television series “Sesame Street.” Now almost 85, Mr. Spinney announced in September that he’s hanging up his big orange bird legs and retiring from “Sesame Street.” When asked what the most difficult part of his job has been, the unflappable Mr. Spinney chirped,…