CBS 21 Community

We have the same situation on our back deck, except the nest is in the corner of a piece of furniture right on the deck.  We have stopped using the deck since four tiny little eggs appeared in the nest.  The bird flies off if anyone goes on the deck.

My concern is that we are scheduled to have an outdoor party on Monday afternoon and evening.  We can hardly keep the deck closed for that!  How much noise and action have you had on your deck?  Do you think our bird will desert the nest if she is kept away from it for an evening by lots of chaos?  She built the nest while we were gone on vacation, so I'm sure she didn't realize it was a busy place.

I have no advice for you . . . I'm hoping you have some for us!

J. L. Nashville, TN

Hi Mike!
I always enjoy your blogs and especially like the pictures that accompany them--kind of like a great show and tell when I was a kid!
We also had robin's nests under our back deck--3 of them to be exact.  We were afraid of endangering the birds with our constant grilling and other deck activities.  There was also the fact that there were large amounts of bird poop on the deck that we had to keep washing off.--Therefore, my husband moved all 3 nests.  Each nest had 4 blue robin eggs in them!  He put on a pair of latex gloves(to conceal any human scent) and carefully moved each nest to another location safe and secure in the "Y' of near by trees.  The mother robins witnessed all of this and squawked loudly in protest, doing a few warning fly-bys on my husband.... needless to say right now( 1 week later) all mothers and babies are doing just great in the trees right where my husband placed them!!
Jayme

Thanks for your comments...

J.L.,

So far, I haven't changed any behavior to accomodate the bird, except that I haven't been spraying the hose in that corner of the deck. I first noticed the nest one day while I was pulling my canoe out from under the deck, where its stored. I've pulled it out and put it back in several times since then, and the mother bird doesn't seem to care one bit. She also seems to stay put when I run the lawmmower right next to that corner of the deck. I guess the biggest test will happen on Monday, when me and my wife host our families for a Memorial Day Bar-B-Que. Hopefully, mom won't get spooked by all the action.

JJHOSE,

That's amazing that you were able to do that. I would try the same thing, except that I haven't had any of the problems that you have (poop). Also, the nest doesn't seem to be causing any danger. Not sure if you saw it, but a couple of weeks ago, there was actually a small fire at a house in Mechanicsburg, caused by a bird building a nest inside an exterior light fixture. We did a relatable Engine 21 fire prevention segment the following day. Copy the following link into your brower to see it:

http://www.whptv.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoId=123788&navCatId=1170

Now that I know somebody is following my bird saga, I'll make sure to add another post as things develop!

-- Mike