I'm new here, so this is actually a question rather than comment. Last year, a Robin built a nest in iron basket on my front porch. About 3 weeks ago a dove built there and laid her eggs. Yesterday, a large piece from a plastic shopping bag was on top of the nest. The eggs were still there, but one has rolled away from the nest. The dove/s didn't return all day. This morning a Robin was working on building on top of the plastic and eggs. I am wondering what could have happened. Did the dove abandon because the eggs weren't going to hatch or something else.

Thank you all for all the comments here. I have a nest though while no eggs (3 robins fledged successfully ages ago) the nest remains the parents home. Issue is it's under my bedroom window in ivy which due to leaving them so long, its now completely covered the window and onto the roof. I'm going to build a box as shown by rober49 (thank you) and place it under the eaves for protection. The nest is huge and looks very solid (i.e., been in use a very long time). The robins eat from my hand (as did their babies) so trusting they will understand, forgive and continue using their relocated nest. The UK robins are tiny compared to those in the US. Ours are a fair bit smaller than a tennis ball. I think your's are on steroids. Thank you all ... feeling much happier about this.

Hi Eric! It's so nice to have kids interested in birds. There are lots of kids projects you can become involved in that are fun. Maybe next year you could get your classmates involved in some. I noticed you posted that you have Nuthatches in your nestbox. There is a great website www.sialis.org that has information on cavity nesting birds. I will find some of the other websites that have bird watching activities for you.

I had a catbird using a robin's nest in my perennial g'house (roll up sides, and open to the air) up until last week. The robin had its eggs taken twice and finally gave up the nest for other digs. The poor catbird laid four eggs, and had been sitting for at least four or five days and we had a run of mid-ninety degree weather. She sat on those eggs with her beak open and panting. The structure had to be at least ten degrees above the ambient temperature. I checked the eggs daily when she left the nest and she deserted it. The last two days I checked, the eggs were cold. I have chickens who sit eggs and occasionally they'll destroy some in their nest and remove the remains. It leads me to believe they must be able to sense when an egg is not viable any longer. Perhaps the eggs from the catbird just simply fried in the heat. I had a dove try to sit a robin's nest in another location earlier in the year. She aborted it too, as it was in a busy location and I don't think doves are as comfortable with humans scurrying by as robins can be. You don't give your zone. It's a factor in how late a bird may nest. I have found blue jays babies on the ground dead after falling from their nest after storms in s.e. Ohio as late as October.