Birds, Poems, and Reality

       How do birds sleep?  It’s a question I put online to answer a doubt I have every time I say a certain poem, which is often.

       The poem called “Today Is Forever” by Malka Heifetz Tussman speaks of a bird scratching a small trough for itself in the earth, lying in it like a crib, and resting.
 
       Do birds rest and sleep this way?

       My online informants testify to a good number of ways birds sleep, not only claw(s) grappled to a twig or branch; for example, huddled up on the floor of a bird cage, and I suppose the poet’s description to be a possible one also.

       I wish I knew all that David Attenborough knows, but I guess I am satisfied this poem does not transgress the bounds of reality.