Home wrecker

I never thought I would be described as a home wrecker, but after Sunday, I guess that's what I am -- and G too.

When I was out on the porch, working on a project and sweating like a pig, I happened to glance toward the front door and I was shocked at what I saw.  A bird's nest.  I swear I hadn't noticed that bird's nest or even any sign that birds were beginning to build a nest.

A few years ago birds built a nest between the finial of our porch light and the siding of the house.  Three baby robins hatched and it was fun to watch them grow bigger until they finally left the nest.  In the intervening years a few more nests were built, but there were never any eggs.

I've always wondered why birds thought that the porch light perch was such a good spot for a nest.  Yes, it is high enough to deter predators and fairly sheltered from wind and rain, but it is right by our front door.  Every time we would go in or out of the house, the mother bird would get spooked and fly off the nest.  I think some years the birds just abandoned the nest because of the stress.

It seems unlikely, but I really believe that this year's nest appeared overnight.  I don't remember seeing it on Saturday, and on Sunday . . . there it was.  G says he didn't notice any nest-building activity either. 

I asked G to climb up on a ladder and see if there were any eggs in the nest.  He did and there weren't, and this is where we became home wreckers.  If there had been eggs, we would have left the nest alone, but an empty nest is fair game.  So we took the nest down and relocated it to a sheltered spot in a bush by the porch, but away from the door. 

I don't think the birds have found their new home and even if they have, I'm not sure if they would use the nest after G touched it to remove it.  I've always heard that if a baby bird falls out of a nest and a human picks it up to put it back, the parents will ignore the bird and let it starve because of the human scent.

Hopefully our birds will be able to build a new nest, somewhere else, in time for their blessed event.