Cindy, get a step stool, take it down. If the nest is new, even if there has been an egg layed, chances are the bird will just set up housekeeping elsewhere and you will only have delayed it by a few days.

If it was a starling or english sparrow, I'd take it down no matter how many eggs had been layed; my elderly mother 2 hours away has a starling above her own front door from her description and I need to see if her lawn service won't address that nest - they are too messy for it to stay. In the case of starling or sparrow, you might have to remove a nest more than once, they are determined.

There are exceptions so it might help if you knew which bird....here it's against the law to disturb nesting swallows.

I've had robins do that to me.....after several days of keeping their building efforts swept away, I awoke to find that they had built a robin skyscaper in the middle of the night! (It was perched on top of the porch light just to the right of the front door!)

I figured if they wanted that little bit of real estate THAT bad, they could have it. We all co-existed just fine, go figure.

I had a similiar problem so I can relate.

Some birds made a nest right near my front door. The birds seem to get angry whenever you leave or enter the house. The birds nest is literally 2 feet away from eye level.
I did not see any eggs in the nest.

I am going to remove the bush (it was old and damaged anyway). I am concerned they will try to make a new nest nearby, any advice on preventing this ? Thanks in advance.

I heard that a sparrow's nest brings good luck to a home. Hope your prospective buyers are not superstitious!

Of course we all want luck in our homes, but English House sparrow is a non-native, invasive species.

Like other invasive species, it has had a huge impact on the ecology and is a primary reason for the decline of bluebirds and other native songbirds. Very aggressive, it competes for nesting sites - not only does this displace the natives but when the natives leave their nest unattended, the sparrow will often enter the nest and destroy the eggs and/or kill the nestlings.

I know, I know, probably more information than you wanted, but when I went to our wild bird shop for swallow houses, I was asked not to put them up until May, well after sparrows had started raising young, so as not to encourage larger sparrow populations....rec'd a crash course in Sparrow 101 that day :)

It may actually be illegal to remove this nest if it is that of a common robin or wren. Their nests are even protected if they are considered active. Activity can be indicated by a bird lining the nest with down/leaves/feathers even if no eggs are present. The Migratory bird act does not protect house sparrows or European starlings. Sound a lot like a robin nest to me by its location. They are famous for nesting over doors and on window sills.

I asked an expert yesterday (4/13/2010) and it is an illegal thing to do according to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. I have a robin nesting in a wreath right beside my front door and she flies off and squawks every time I go in and out. I had thought of moving it 3' over so maybe I wouldn't bother her so much but I guess we have to co-exist.

I have a Wren's nest in my tomato grower. I don't mind, if fact, I love having birds around. Is it advisable to clean out the old nest, or should I just let the bird do it herself?

I noticed birds building a nest in a hanging basket that i got a few weeks ago. I felt really horrible but i took the plant down so they would go somewhere else and build another nest. They must have just started it. :( I am a nature lover and it really made me feel bad but I didnt want my plant to die either.

There is a nest under my window ac unit & of course I have not used the unit since nest was built. The babies have been born 2 wks now & are SO LOUD. Could I push the nest out?

Robin/sparrow is constructing beautiful nest.Can someone tell me if it is lucky or unlucky.

It is illegal to remove nearly all bird nests in the US and other countries under the migratory bird act. Possessing the feathers and parts of nest is also illegal and can get you a fine from a few hundred to thousands of dollars depending on the bird and action. The migratory bird act is used nowadays mostly for Birds of Prey like hawks but you can still get fined for having a lowly scrub jays feather. Only game birds like turkeys and ducks are exempt from this and non native birds such as starlings. You can remove the nest after the birds have moved out. You may also remove the nest if it is a non native specie but you will need to positively ID the bird to do this.

I was wondering when is it ok to start cutting back the overgrown weeds and bushes the birds have nested in? The berry bushes are really bad this year and I would like to get to it.

Unlike other birds, robins are extremely skilled worm hunters. After a robin couple built a nest in my backyard's apple tree this year, I wanted to move the nest to another yard, but I resisted, and so I watched the robins hunt and capture lots and lots of worms from my yard. Worm castings (pooh-pooh) is just about the best fertilizer there is, so I was sorry to see so many worms killed by the robin couple to feed their 2 young babies in the nest.

Although I didn't remove the nest, I discouraged the robins from removing worms from my lawn whenever I saw them hunting, which I saw them doing all the time. I actually saved a few worms from the robins' mouths and hid the saved worms under soil in the veggie garden. You gotta hide the worms you save because the robin will return to the spot you stole the worm from him shortly after you leave the spot.

I've never seen any other bird species that's as good at worm hunting than robins. I gotta wonder if they're the best? They seem to be the only bird species in my neighborhood to hunt worms. I've never seen any other bird around here capture a worm, which makes me think most of the other bird species don't hunt worms.

I love robins and I love worms (my lawn especially loves worms) so I compromised: I let the robins keep their nest in my yard, but I made it hard for them to hunt worms in my yard's lawn. This caused them to do more hunting in other yards, although they still took more than their fair share of worms from my lawn, thus robbing my lawn of nutritious worm castings.

I tell ya though, I love meadow larks more than robins. Larks sing so beautifully and they don't rob your lawn of worms - Lol.

Didn't have any worm-robbing problems from larks, cardinals, blue jays, wrens, chickadees, and lots of other birds--just had the problem from the robins.