I have the same situation. I have a planter hanging from my porch. The nest is not in the open because when the plant died, I just left in there. I know some birds nests you can move, but what about a doves nest? It still has 2 babies in it and the mother is always close by or sitting in it. They have gotten so use to us that I can work in the flowerbeds, open and close the front door hundreds of times, my husband can cut the grass, and we can even stand on a chair and look at them and they won't budge. BUT, let one of my neighbors walk by walking their dog and she goes crazy. Oh yeah, she dosen't like it when my husband starts his harley... lol If I wait until the babies fly away, can I relocate the planter to another location on my porch for her to use the next time? I'd even leave the dead plant in it for protection.

For anyone in the future looking - while I understand your quandary, you certainly did the best thing for your home and your health. Often birds have mites. Being on a wreath on your front door, chances are the mites would have made their way into your home. My understanding is they are extremely difficult to be rid of (minus a match). Our family found out the hard way about mites. Bird had nested in our primary door wreath when we were away on vacation. We just used an alternate door so as to not disturb them. Thought it would be interesting with the kiddos to keep an eye on how things work. A few days after they hatched, I kept noticing a black smudge on the inside of the door. I'd wipe it off, another would show up. I finally looked really close and saw the smudge was moving! MITES. Birds nest had to be moved immediately! We put it in the closest tree (about 40' away) lt turned out fine as momma found her lil ones. They took flight within a couple weeks, it seems like.

Yes, it is all bark really. The only other bird I thought could be possible was a Carolina Wren but I don't think so. We moved the house today after much though. We were at a loss what to do. The house has broken wood on the bottom, don't know how this happened but it was leaning where it was attached to the pole. I'm afraid it would not have made it safely with the birds inside. So, we made the decision to move the house gently to an area where it will have support, about 10-12 feet directly behind the pole, and pray. We have not gone out there today hoping that with piece and quite momma will not mind the move and brave coming back. We had no clue what else to do and felt this was the safest thing to give them a chance. At first I thought it was kind of silly that this bird was bring mulch into the house until I checked again and noticed the 6 eggs. Hopefully I'll get some pictures.

Lydia 1959...As far as it's known, from decades of research by the PMCA and other organizations, the Purple Martins in the eastern half of the U.S. nest only in man-made cavities, and near human activity. Since the times before Columbus they have "imprinted" on humans. The eastern Native Americans lured them to their villages and gardens by setting natural gourds on sticks and dead trees. They knew when the Purple Martins were near, the flying insects were kept at bay. There is a small scattering of PMs on the west coast, and they seem to be nesting in single family groups around piers. There was a lot of excitement when a colony was discovered nesting in drainage pipes under highway overpasses around the Sacramento area. Still, for the vase majority of the Purple Martins, and the entire eastern population, it's man made housing. You can see the problem since fewer and fewer people are offering, and safely managing, housing for them. The PMs, along with our native blue birds, started declining in the 1950s and were fast approaching endangered status. The main causes were lack of housing being offered to them, loss of wooden fence posts in the case of the blue birds, and the explosion of the imported, non-native English House Sparrow that will kill/destroy any cavity nester, its eggs and its chicks, that it can find...PMs, bluebirds, chickadees, woodpeckers, nuthatches, etc. all fall prey to these non-natives. So, loss of habitat, explosive numbers of non-native competitors, and a lack of well-managed housing not being offered is the main culprits of the decline of our native cavity nesters. I wish you could come visit. I sit under the feeder tree each morning with my tea and listen to the beautiful chatter, chortles, and songs of the PMs. They're here for such a short time, but I try to enjoy them enough to last the rest of the year. They travel to and from southern Brazil each year to raise their families. They come back to the same colony each year. They are magical!