What to do?

When I walked into the living room the other day I saw a flash of movement in the tree by the front door. As I sat and looked out the window, I realized it was a tiny bird.

It hopped from branch to branch and then flew to the archway leading to our front porch and clung to the stucco wall. After it left I went to the front porch to see what attracted the bird there.


To my delight and horror, I found a lovely little nest the bird had built in one of my pots. The nest is a work of art and represents hours and hours of labor from this little creature. Unfortunately, the location is very, very bad. The pot is on a stand that is only a couple of feet high, and it's right by the main entrance to our house.

While we wouldn't touch the nest, others might. We don't have many human visitors, but we do have frequent visits from raccoons, as evidenced by their muddy footprints left on the concrete walk after they dig in my water garden. Raccoons are omnivores and will eat anything.

There are also two large Cuban treefrogs who live on our porch light. They also will eat anything that will fit in their mouth!

What to do? I looked at birdhouses and thought of ways to hang the pot so the bird could still reach it, but I came to the unhappy conclusion that they would not return to the nest if I touched it, and they and their babies would be at risk if I left the nest there.

I had to move the nest.

While not a solution I would have gladly chosen, I took the nest out of the pot and put it at the edge of the woods. I know the bird won't use the nest, but I hope someone will use the materials to build a home for themselves.