While the title may seem like an oxymoron, let me explain. It’s spring and love is in the air, especially for a pair of doves looking for a place to nest.
Let me start by saying I love birds. When I was in grade school, my dad would take me with him on dove counts and quail counts that were part of his job as a wildlife manager. I learned the silhouettes of those birds and can still spot them today. He always pointed out the scissortails, the mockingbirds, the turkeys, and other birds that lived around our house in Texas. Currently, he has a large bird feeder at his house that I love seeing all the birds that come to feed. So, I have nothing against birds…
…until they want to start a home on our deck. Our house has a double-decker deck, meaning a large deck is over another large deck. Between the two is apparently the perfect place for doves to build their love nests. I wouldn’t mind them there other than they are noisy, cooing constantly, waking us up tto early in the mornings. Plus, they are not “deck trained.” I have no desire to clean bird poop off the deck, and I doubt Hubby does either.
This pair of doves is trying to nest outside our bedroom sliding door. They are way too noisy with all their cooing. They talk all the time. I want them out of there before they started laying eggs. They started a nest, but Hubby pushed it off before they could get far with it to lay eggs. I haven’t the heart to kill the baby birds. I need to stop them before it comes to that.
Hubby put spikes up in their prime choice for nesting. They didn’t mind. They moved down the row of joists and picked another spot. I’ve run them off all day long, but they keep coming back. I hope they get the hint and find someplace else more peaceful. In the meantime, Hubby will put more spikes up to dissuade them from taking up residence over our lower deck.
Don’t feel sorry for them. They have thousands of acres in the national forest on the edge of town to nest in. Let them go there. That’s what it’s for: wildlife habitat. My deck is strictly private property, and these unwanted guests need to fly the coop before it’s too late.
I am not a bird lover. I have the perfect dog who likes to chase them away so we haven’t had a problem yet. Someone around us put mixed nuts in the shells out for the squirrels before last winter. We have gravel in a fairly large area where we have our shed and those dang squirrels buried them there. I caught one of the little boogers digging one up the other day. The big problem is they don’t eat them all and drop them in our yard and our dog gets them.
Squirrels are such a nuisance! Cute, but a nuisance.
I’m completely with you on the poop. Stay out of my coop.
On the other hand, to have doves choose you for shelter is a great honor. You are providing them security to start their family. One year we had a nest on our porch. Yuckie Poo! But on the day the last baby flew from its nest it landed on my shoulder as if to say thank you and goodbye. Then off it went to be in the wild with the other birds. WOW! Our homes are built on what was there habitat first.
That’s a really sweet story. If they wouldn’t poop on the deck, I’d let them stay.
I love birds too, but I am with you on the problems doves cause, nesting in your yard. I have a pair that nest in our pine tree above the steps that go up to our mailbox at the street. They poop all over the stairs and I always forget about them when I’m walking up to get the mail. They come flapping out of the tree, and have nearly caused me whiplash . I also, I am annoyed by their continual cooing. It seems they come back to the same spot every year. We had a great horned owl nesting near the top of that tree this spring and I hadn’t seen the doves. I thought maybe she had run them off, but I have begun seeing them again recently.