There are a pair of finches who buid a nest on top of a decorative column on my porch every spring

[BlueKota]

It's protected by an overhanging roof. I leave it there as I don't think they do any harm. Only so far this year it has been attacked and torn apart by the cow birds 3 times. Yet after every attack the finches rebuild it back in the same place.

I don't know if I should put a blocker up there to make them have to find a hopefully safer spot to build, or just leave nature to take care of itself?

[riversedge]

1. my mom has had robins on light fixture right next to door every year. We just leave

the nest and they fix it up the next year. I have no idea if they are some ones.

[Donkees]

2. One possibility:

Arcese and coworkers (1992, 1996) speculated that cowbirds will destroy nest contents late in the nesting cycle to induce hosts to re-nest, thus enabling the cowbird to synchronize their egg laying with that of the re-nesting host. Cowbirds also may disrupt nests in the vicinity of their hosts' nests to reduce competition for the cowbird nestling's food (Granfors et al. 2001)

If the finches relocate too close to where these cowbirds have laid their egg, they might have the same problem. You would have to watch too if cowbirds succeed in laying an egg in your porch nest.

[BlueKota]

3. Thank you!