This is Bird Note.

An adult black-capped chickadee flies in toward its nest,

carrying a beakful of fresh insects, reaching a long-dead tree trunk.

The bird disappears inside the nest cavity it's excavated with its mate

and delivers the goods to the impatient chicks within.

A moment later, out pops the adult, but once again,

it's carrying something in its bill,

what looks like a tiny white pouch.

Still on the wing, the chickadee drops the object into the vegetation below.

The outgoing payload was a fecal sack,

a remarkable adaptation found in nesting songbirds.

Nestlings, often within seconds of being fed by the adult,

excrete waste in tidy little sacks with a gelatinous outer coating.

The dutiful parent now switches tasks,

from meal delivery to waste management.

By dropping the sack a safe distance from the nest,

the birds tidy the nest while discarding clues a predator might use

to detect vulnerable nestlings.

The fecal sack, for anyone who's ever changed a diaper,

it's a simple solution we can only marvel at.

For Bird Note, I'm Mary McCann.