Birds and Their Nests.

[Diggin It]

I have a tree/shrub that needs to come down, but it's occupied. At least one nest that I can see has an egg and there's another nest higher up I'm not sure about. I can wait until they hatch, but how do I deter them from laying more? I can't even cut off the unoccupied branches right now since chainsaw vibration will probably disturb the egg. I can take off some of them with a lopper, but that may expose the nest to hazards.

This is a Cedar that was pruned significantly a couple of years back, but there is a lot of new growth which means smaller branches protecting the older ones. I guess that makes it attractive for the nest crews.

 

[Jstpssng]

I wouldn't worry about disturbing the egg, the mother turns it occasionally so a little vibration won't bother. At this point what does it matter if they lay more? The eggs all hatch at the same time anyways.
Just don't be surprised if you get dive bombed, they will let you know if they're unhappy about your presence.
I have the same situation, there's a clump of trees which I planned to cut this spring but I noticed robin activity, so need to make sure there's no nest there before firing up the saw.

 

[defranks]

Barn swallows have decided that they want to build along the beam the runs the length of my porch. Actually, they'd be welcome if they'd go and do their business elsewhere, but I don't want to deal with bird poop, so I go up a ladder and scrape their foundations away once a day or so. It's amazing how persistent the little beggers are, this has been going on for a couple of weeks and still they start new foundations. One seemed to be giving me the stink eye a couple days ago, and I'm pretty sure he'd have knocked my house down if it was in his power.

 

[Jstpssng]

I had barn swallows building on the door casing of my main entryway last year. I wasn't long evicting them.

 

[orezok]

Twice now this spring birds have tried to build nests on top of my tractor roll bar but under the canopy. I dont know why, but they seem to not like mobile nests.

 

[Alan W.]

I accidentally cut a limb with a nest in it one time. Took and tied it to a nearby tree as level as I could and all was well.

 

[Diggin It]

Deterring them from building is one thing. I've done that several times. But once they've built and laid eggs, I try to leave them alone until the young can move on. That can be a few weeks. What I don't want is another species with a different calendar building a new nest and starting the process all over.

I can work around the tree for now, but there will be a lot of activity with various tools.

 

[Jstpssng]

I accidentally cut a limb with a nest in it one time. Took and tied it to a nearby tree as level as I could and all was well.

Years ago while doing powerline R/W maintenance I cut down a tree that had a flying squirrel's nest in it. Like you, I tried to stand it back up but don't know how well that worked out.

 

[Diggin It]

Years ago while doing powerline R/W maintenance I cut down a tree that had a flying squirrel's nest in it. Like you, I tried to stand it back up but don't know how well that worked out.

I'm guessing there was a moose nearby?

 

[/pine]

Many years ago a friend who's family was in the logging business had cut a tree with a great horned owl's nest...one of the young owls (not quite a fledgling) survived...even though they knew there were laws against keeping it they fed it ground meat until it was mature enough to release...it was one of the coolest things...extremely mellow and not wild acting at all...

 

[Jstpssng]

I'm guessing there was a moose nearby?

Hey, Rocky. Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!

 

[bigtiller]

Here is a map of primary nesting dates and duration across the usa. It looks like that family owns the tree until late summer.

https://www.fsa.usda.gov/Assets/USDA-FSA-Public/usdafiles/Conservation/PDF/mapnesting062013.pdf

 

[Jstpssng]

Here is a map of primary nesting dates and duration across the usa. It looks like that family owns the tree until late summer.

https://www.fsa.usda.gov/Assets/USDA-FSA-Public/usdafiles/Conservation/PDF/mapnesting062013.pdf

That's a good map. We are generally encouraged not to mow fields until after August 1 to reduce nesting bird mortality, which coincides with what your link shows. I have a hard time doing it though, as that also coincides with when the weeds go to seed. While our field hasn't been hayed in >20 years, old habits die hard.

It still doesn't reflect the OP's dilemna though, as I don't see Lower Uncton there.

 

[Diggin It]

I thought it was something else, but there's been a Mockingbird hanging around, clearly not too happy with me, so ...

 

[2LaneCruzer]

It may be a sin to kill a mockingbird, but when they peck holes in your peaches, plums, apples and eat the cherries from your trees, it's tempting...and they have been known to dive bomb the local kitty cats!

 

[TractorGuy]

I wouldn't worry about disturbing the egg, the mother turns it occasionally so a little vibration won't bother. At this point what does it matter if they lay more? The eggs all hatch at the same time anyways.
Just don't be surprised if you get dive bombed, they will let you know if they're unhappy about your presence.
I have the same situation, there's a clump of trees which I planned to cut this spring but I noticed robin activity, so need to make sure there's no nest there before firing up the saw.

You may be assuming they are all the same species? We already had some Chickadees hatch and currently have some other species feeding their young in a house on our front porch.

Once a bird begins building it's nest it is fairly determined to follow through until the babies are hatched. We had this bird house sitting on a table on the front porch until the wind blew it off. I picked it up and put it in a plant hanger about 5 feet where where it sat on the table. The birds found the new location and completed the nest building and are now feeding the young.

 

[Diggin It]

Hadn't filled the bird feeders for a few days since there is so much natural food now. I still put some out over the Summer just so they'll remember where it is next Winter. So, today I go out to add some only to find one of them full of grass and leaves. Somebody turned the vacant restaurant into an apartment.

 

[TractorGuy]

Our babies in the front porch nest flew today. Parents went from feeding an hour or so in the mornings to going and coming all day long. They were acting funny this morning so I figured they were about ready to go. Little buggers ended up getting in my garage. I was able to shoo most of them out but finally had to catch one and take it outside for release.

Our cat was on the back porch and I discovered the bird parents were out there taunting her to distract her from what was going on out front. Our lazy cat was just laying in the chair watching though.

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^
Good video. :thumbsup:

 

[tallyho8]

I have dozens of bird nests in my yard right now. The most aggravating one is when the birds have built a nest in my front porch lights the last few years. I can't turn the light s on at night because they will fry the babies. The nests are vey messy and I have to take the lights apart to clean them out after the birds have left.

This year I got smart and took some cardboard and put it in my porch lights to block their entrance and I got an old light and made a nest out of it and hung below my porch light to entice the birds to use it. It worked. The 3 babies hatched yesterday. Sorry the photos aren't better.