Can I move a bird’s nest?
It depends on the activity at the nest.
If the nest is active, meaning it contains live eggs or young, then you will need to leave the nest where it is until the birds fledge. This recommendation is the same whether it’s an open-cup nest or a nest inside a nest box; any active nest of a native bird is protected by federal law in North America. Moving a nest even just a few feet away from its original location stresses the birds, risks injury to the eggs/chicks, and risks the adults abandoning the nest. Adults don’t realize their nest has moved–only that it’s not where they last left it. More often than not, this leads the adults to assume it was removed by a predator and then they will abandon the “missing” nest to restart elsewhere.
If a bird has nested in an inconvenient spot (e.g., front door wreath, porch planters, etc.), please follow the advice in this FAQ.
A few notes about nest boxes:
If you need to move a nest box to a different location, wait to relocate the nest box until the birds have fledged, or until the end of the season after the birds are done using it. If you’re reporting data to NestWatch, be sure to archive the old nest site and create a new nest site for the box’s new location.
Otherwise, if your nest box is empty, there is no active nest, and/or it’s after the end of the breeding season, feel free to move your nest box. Some monitors may move nest boxes to take advantage of more appropriate habitat, to avoid direct sun (for better heat management), to move away from predator-prone areas, or even just simply because the original location wasn’t a good fit.