by Zoë Pollock
David Gessner recently built a small shack in his back yard with a desk for writing. But he didn't add a screen to cover a gap above the door and was rewarded with the nest of two Carolina wrens and, soon after, four baby birds:
My life feels better, more intense and elevated, having this new family around. Over the last two weeks the wrens and I have co-existed, though, feeling it was only good manners, I have spent less time in the shack, and each night I place the plywood cover over the screen window to keep the wind and rain out. When I do take a seat these days I witness the non-stop parade of feeding, performed by both the male and female, and I take notes in my journal of the type of insect or worm they have brought as an offering. The few minutes immediately after the feedings are the only time, outside of sleep, that the tiny birds stop pleading with their squeeze-toy squeaks and stop lifting their gaping mouths.
(Photo by Ryan Keene.)
The Dish 