How can we move a birds nest with eggs from windshield wipers?

Question

We found a nest with eggs on the windshield wipers of our camper and we need to move it but I would like to do it without causing the mother bird to abandon it. Does anyone know how to do it? (We have to get the camper out of the storage it is currently in so we can't wait a month for the babies to leave :(

Answer 1

That is a very tricky situation.  And unfortunately the nest is likely to be abandoned if you move the camper no matter what you do.  A mother bird knows her nest is her nest because if its exact location, and she probably uses the camper as her main reference point.  Without the camper there she'll have no idea where her nest could be even if her nest is easily within view, because her nest is on the windshield wipers of a camper and that nest she sees is clearly not on the windshield wipers of a camper.

There is a minuscule chance that if you were able to remove the nest intact and place it on something else so that it is in exactly the same spot, minus the camper, that she would recognize the nest and return.  However, this is extremely unlikely.  Such a large change to the area around the nest is likely to completely disorient her even if the nest itself is in the right spot.