Digger, that's so sweet that you let them continue to build their nests in your garage. I so enjoy watching baby birds grow up. (Speaking of which, have you guys been watching the Decorah eagles?? WOW!) I have a pair of beautiful little birds, maybe a species of sparrow, that have built a nest under my porch, over a window. They're gorgeous - dark navy feathers on their heads and back and an orangish yellow breast. They're making a horrible mess with all the bird poop, but watching them is worth a cleanup day when they're done. GG, I'm with you. Every year, in late winter, my mom and I have a little competition - who sees the first robin, which is our indicator that spring is here. I won this year! Denise in Omaha

I had an interesting situation at our house. Bought a flower planter and left it on our front porch about chest high off the porch. I saw a bird's nest appear a couple weeks later but never saw a bird so I tossed the nest into the bushes to mulch. Then I saw the flowers were trampled and looked to see why and found 3 Robin's eggs in the flower bed. I used utensils to retrieve the nest from the bushes and carefully laid the 3 eggs into the nest. All the while the mama Robin was squawking at me. I checked and saw the bird returned to the nest and was doing some tidying up. Then low and behold she reclaimed the nest. Later that same day I saw 4 eggs as she apparently had one in reserve. She is nesting nicely now and we can't wait to see her little hatchlings come to life. I did handle the nest by hand at first when I tossed it but who knows if the bird cared. It makes sense that birds don't have a sense of smell.

Robins are not known for constructing super safe nests - they do like to be out in the open and will not nest in an enclosed box. At least on a covered platform they are better protected from the elements than many nests I have seen them make. Wherever you put them, make sure that they are not accessible to predators - under eaves is fairly safe unless there are vines, etc. nearby that can be climbed.

If they are just building it I would absolutely take it down and put something there to prevent their rebuilding it. If you leave them to it it will impact your life for weeks. I had robins do the same thing on my back patio where I take the dogs in and out- high prey drive dogs. Unfortunately for me I did not see it until there were eggs present and so I let them run their course. Long story short I had to fence off the area to keep the dogs from going at the babies (I have extremely large dogs who can stand on their back legs and get at things six feet high), and as it was hard concrete underneath I padded the floor for the moment they jumped. I also had to extend fencing to accommodate the babies making their way to cover. It was exhausting, but everything worked out and I got a lovely series of photos right up until the last moments before they jumped out. The only positive I can think of aside from their all living was that it forced me to learn a great deal about baby robins so I could stay one step ahead of their development in terms of keeping them safe. I did not find the mother to be at all territorial towards me- I kept my regular in and out schedule. I did provide mealworms from time to time to try and help keep her healthy. So unless you are prepared to spend time and energy devising ways to keep them safe, nip it in the bud and remove the nest. The last photo was about ten minutes before the last ones to leave jumped out.