Nests: charming / shaming

Some unexpected nesting places are charming—like the light fixture on the porch of a cozy Montpelier cafe. After repeated attempts to discourage the broody bird, the owner just gave in, leaving patrons with a show and the robins with a protected home.

The nest below is less felicitous and less subject to soft-heartedness. It is the ever-moving campsite of an unhoused woman. Currently on the outskirts of an expensive lakeside neighborhood in Burlington, VT, she changes location frequently, dodging park police, who order her to move on (to where?), and fellow “campers,” who have robbed and assaulted her.

There is nothing charming about this nest, and to be clear, the “shaming” is on all of us who turn a blind eye to the crtical lack of affordable housing.