Photo: Getty Images
Since Matthew Burrows entered self-quarantine in March, he’s had to learn how to accommodate a new co-worker: Dipper, a chatty oatmeal- and eggshell-feathered finch with a beak the color of a traffic cone.
“I usually take my Zoom calls from my kitchen table over yonder, just so the background noise is a little muted,” Burrows says as Dipper trills in his cage.
Normally, finches would live in a lively flock, communicating in a constant pitter-patter. It’s the avian equivalent of an open office — an environment that also suited Burrows, an account manager at the technology PR firm the Hoffman Agency, until, faced with the pandemic, the company closed its San Jose, California, headquarters and sent employees home.