that is some really nice compost there Paul, and Mrs. Paul. This compost bundt ring helped saved me from a bit of 'crabbiness' myself. (Unfortunately not the fishy kind, just the grumpies.) My kids and I have been trying to clean up the dumpster area of our church/school for as many years as we've been there. The problem is the maintenance director just tells everyone to keep piling everything behind the dumpsters, on the asphalt. Piles of brush get very high, grass clippings are just dumped, and dumped, and dumped, so you know they get pretty rank with out browns layered between. Everything was a mess. About five years ago, my dear kids helped haul over twenty trailer loads off, they said they would haul no more. Next year they helped haul another twenty trailer loads. (We take the brush to the composting facility in our town, where it is magically turned into lovely compost.) Then dear kids helped build a three bin compost system. I guess the concept of one, two, three was too complexfor school employees, so stuff was just piled in each bin, whenever. Grr. Well, finally got that taught to the maintenance crew. Now, they wanted the bins up on the asphalt, instead of down in the ravine where we put the first set of bins, as it was difficult to walk down the slope, when wet. OK, so we built another set of three bins up directly behind the dumpsters, on the asphalt. Bins don't have contact with the soil, but it will have to do. Well, the heaps of shrubbery are showing up again, as the parish is doing a remodel, and lots of shrubs are being removed. I keep telling the director of buildings & grounds to have that stuff hauled off as part of the building process, but he thinks it will make such lovely compost, and he thinks we should be selling the compost. He also thinks we are saving just tons of money by not hauling off shrubbery. More grrrr. Well, I decided to make lemonade instead of just being a sourpuss, so now I am setting up bundt composts with all that brush. Then the crew can keep dumping willy-nilly into the bundts, I'll keep my three bin system humming along in one, two, three fashion. So, we'll have bundt holding bins. As for selling the compost, I'm going to look the director of buildings and grounds straight in the eye and ask him if he wants that compost now that he let some of the crew leave cans of old asphalt sealant out to dry right by the compost bins, where they got dumped over and 'accidentally' incorporated into the compost by who knows who? Yuck toxic waste!! I removed all I could, but every now and then I get a whiff of fresh asphalt when I fluff the compost. Some people just don't get it. Oh well, nuff venting. The bundt bins work well. Contains the mess, keeps my blood pressure down. Thanks Paul. Kathy, I loved your comment about your neighbors. Maybe I need to have that attitude about our B & G director He means well. ;-) happy gardening, cantstop

According to the Migratory Bird Act, it is illegal to remove nests of any native migratory birds. "Unless permitted by regulations, the Act provides that it is unlawful to pursue, hunt, take, capture or kill; attempt to take, capture or kill; possess, offer to or sell, barter, purchase, deliver or cause to be shipped, exported, imported, transported, carried or received any migratory bird, part, nest, egg or product, manufactured or not." "Birds protected under the act include all common songbirds, waterfowl, shorebirds, hawks, owls, eagles, ravens, crows, native doves and pigeons, swifts, martins, swallows and others, including their body parts (feathers, plumes etc), nests, and eggs." There are over 800 species of bird protected by this act. My understanding is that the only birds whose nests it is legal to destroy are House Sparrows, European Starlings, pigeons, and a few odd others (escaped parakeets, e.g.). Even house wrens are protected. http://www.sialis.org/mbta.htm Here is a link that might be useful: Migratory Bird Treaty

It could have been the nest of American Crows and they left the debris on the ground. I checked the Birds of North America online site (I can't link to it because it's a subscription site, but I hope it's OK to quote from it) - Great site, well worth joining. If you participated in the GBBC you get a free trial subscription. Apparently crows sometimes pull living twigs off trees to make their nests, and they line them with various materials including bark strips. From Birds of North America online site: "Nest Construction Both sexes build nest; no information on relative share of each sex. Although both sexes bring in nest-lining material, female does more of detailed fine-tuning of nest lining than does male (CC). Builds nest mostly between 07:00 and 11:00 (S. S. Dickey in Gross 1946); early in morning, as early as 8 min after sunrise (Reaume 1987b); likely throughout day (CC), as in Northwestern Crow (Verbeek and Butler 1999). New nest distinguishable from old one by presence of fresh, dead twigs on ground below; these twigs fall accidentally and are never retrieved (Reimann 1942). In Encino, CA, and Stillwater, OK, pulls and breaks off living twigs from trees as well as picking up twigs from ground (CC). Gathers materials from different directions around nest tree, not from nest tree itself (Reaume 1987b). Helpers in Florida (Kilham 1989), Cape Cod, MA (Chamberlain-Auger et al. 1990), and in Oklahoma (CC) participated in bringing material to the nest. With 2 adults and several helpers bringing sticks, the congestion around the nest resulted in birds having to wait for a chance to get to the nest; helpers usually left their sticks for the female to work in (Kilham 1989). Period between completion of nest and egg-laying in Florida 6Â16 d (Kilham 1989), but Emlen (1942) reported building right up to egg-laying in California. Time to complete first nests in California 13 d (range 11Â17, n = 6 nests [Emlen 1942]; 10Â14 d [CC]); 5 and 9 d in 2 nests with helpers in Florida (Kilham 1989), 10Â14 d in Oklahoma (CC). Second nests take less time to build: 9 d (Emlen 1942); 6Â8 d (Graber et al. 1987); 5Â10 d in California and Oklahoma (CC). Structure And Composition Matter Bottom and sides consist mainly of dead branches, 0.6Â3.5 cm diameter (Reimann 1942) and usually Claire

Robins are birds that I enjoy viewing, but not as they try to build nests under our porch lights which are on both sides of an area right by our front entrance door. For three days my husband has removed the straw, twigs, etc in order to prevent a completed robin's nest. They put the straw, twigs, etc. up, he takes them down immediately. Today after reading these posts, I sprayed the area with ant and roach spray that I use when the ants try to visit too close to our outside walkway. Two robins just came with straw in their mouths, but they flew away. I hope this is a long-term solution. This is the first time that we have had this problem in the nineteen years that we have lived here. I am already tired of the mess on our porch and the potential health hazard presented if the robins succeed in building a permanent nest. We have plenty of trees that the birds usually choose for their nests and are still quite welcome to do so. However, why our porch this year is a puzzle. Thanks to all who have posted for their solutions. To the haters, because one does not want a bird's nest in an area that he/she frequently uses in his/her home, does not label the person as an animal hater. Why should my quality of life be compromised daily upon trying to enter my home for the sake of a bird's nest? The answer is that it shouldn't and will not. We will win this fight and reclaim our safety and keep our good health.