Every spring I set up my portable greenhouse on my second story deck to keep my transplants before they go to the garden. I usually place bubble insulation on the floor, and cover the top at night to help the heater. This year it is my first time on a new deck built last fall. I was about to disassemble the greenhouse today, when I discovered, that in the new deck structure there is a really nice spot for the nest, that seems to be taken. The problem is, smart bird built it under the floor of my greenhouse, and if I take it away, the nest will become open to the elements through deck boards spacing. I do not know what bird it is, and if it is beneficial to the garden or not… But babies are babies… What would you do?
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If there are already babies there, I would just wait until they flege.
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Birds are a mixed blessing for gardeners and orchardists, but I choose to live with the birds.
When I was in junior high school my bedroom was a converted enclosed back porch and it wasn’t sealed up too well; A Carolina wren built a nest in the room and came and went as she pleased. Sorry to say I don’t recall her raising a brood there, but nice nonetheless. With luck you’ve got a wren , but there are a number of birds that are willing to mingle with us like that.
Thanks guys, I think I will leave my greenhouse and the bird nest for now alone)
Like your story, Mark!
Closest I got is the blue birds raising a brood in my bird house came to my deck waiting for me to give them meal worms.
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What a spoiled creature 
I remember when the quail laid an entire clutch of eggs by the grapevine by the back door before they realized that there was a dog in the house—an English Setter.
oops
It wont take long for chicks to leave the nest if they are present. I would give them the benefit of leaving things in tack.
I stored my tomato cages under the deck and when I picked them up this year, there was something caught on one. I grabbed it to get a better look and found myself holding a birds nest with babies in it.
They were flopping about in it with their beaks open. I took a quick movie (which the site won’t let me upload), snapped a pic, then put it down on the ground. I was a bit torn on how to handle it. On one hand, I think it is robins, which are big berry thief (probably why I have trouble getting cherries and blueberries). On the other hand…I would just feel bad smushing them. I felt a bit silly and overly sentimental (how are they any different than a ground hog or raccoon, which I go to some lengths to dispose of), but decided to let them be.
Anyone who likes posts to have happy endings, stop at the picture
Of course, it turned out to be the less kind option. I walked by a few days later and the babies were dead in the nest. It seems the mother decided to not come back. A few days after that, the babies and the eggs disappeared- something must have found a meal.
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I can tell you that they weren’t robins. Robin eggs are blue.
The picture is a bit dark- I think they were actually blueish. I did ask my wife for an opinion on the color (color-blindness isn’t usually a problem, but can sometimes be annoying) and she thought they were blue. She also said that if her mom was over and found a bird’s nest, she would want to eat the eggs…
Those are speckled eggs, Bob. Robin eggs are blue that is almost like the bottom of your gloves, maybe a touch of green tint thrown in, and a bit paler than those gloves. Even with the shadowed photo and double clicking to enlarge it, they have lots of speckles instead of the solid blue look of robin eggs.