Birds building nest on porch.

[Anonymous]

A bird couple is building a nest on my porch. They definitely weren't there yesterday; this is new as of this morning. Any chance to scare them off now or is it too late?

[Anonymous]

Why do you want to scare them off? We have had this happen several times with no issues.

[Anonymous]

Yes - set up a portable fan near the spot.

[Anonymous]

Squatter’s rights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you want to scare them off? We have had this happen several times with no issues.

I'm worried there will be bird crap and lots of squawking. It's a small porch on a city rowhouse.

[Anonymous]

I’d lightly disturb the area. Is it inside a wreath or in an object on the porch? Remove the object or the nesting materials now.

[Anonymous]

Remove now so they can build elsewhere. Bird poop, bird mites - would not want that on my porch. But once they lay eggs, you need to wait until they leave the nest.

[Anonymous]

Knock it down and keep knocking it down until they get the message. They will keep trying to come back so you’ll need to do it several times.

[Anonymous]

If they’re starlings I would just destroy the nest. Most other birds I would work around.

[Anonymous]

I would lean towards knocking it down and possibly installing some sort of deterrent. It would also depend on whether it's in a spot that you are likely to venture near. We had birds build a nest in our wooden garden arch, covered with ivy, so we didn't really notice until they already laid eggs and it was too late. Every time we walked through that arch to get to our backyard, the birds would fly at us and try to attack us, because of course they were protecting the nest.

[Anonymous]

Wow. I can't believe you aren't looking forward to baby birds!

[Anonymous]

Agree that if you want it gone just mess with what they've started now, before they lay eggs. We had robins build a nest in an upstairs awning at our house and just opening the blinds so we could see inside from the other side of a closed window was enough for them to abandon the position.

[Anonymous]

OK, I was going to try the fan idea, but I didn't have the right kind of fan to point it up where the nest was. The momma bird was sitting so solidly, I thought she might have eggs already (even though they just started on this nest this morning). Then she was gone, so I went and peeked and no eggs. Removed nest and put some cut lemons and limes in that spot. Have ordered wind chimes, and owl decoy and wondering about the bird spikes. I have two of these spots on my porch at the top of the brick porch posts, up high by the porch roof, all protected, nice place to nest I guess.

Baby birds do sound cute but ugh, I saw lots of problems coming along. I hope the birds find a happy home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they’re starlings I would just destroy the nest. Most other birds I would work around.

This, but I'd also evict house sparrows.

[Anonymous]

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