Birds develop flimsy nest precariously perched atop San Jose ladder

Dear JOAN: I have an 8-foot ladder leaning from a sheltered corner of my patio. A pigeon, I think, made a nest on prime of it about a 7 days ago and then two times ago, the bird, I guess, started dismantling the nest.

These days, I climbed a shorter ladder, to see. The  nest is totally taken apart. Almost nothing remains up there. No particles, just two eggs.

Is this usual? Ought to I place a bowl up there and transfer the eggs into the bowl, so when the eggs hatch, the chicks won’t slide off, or would the bowl bring about mama to abandon the nest? I also place a modest dish of drinking water in the vicinity of there.

Ray A., San Jose

Pricey RAY: Determine “normal.” For a robin, let us say, no, it is not normal. For a pigeon or mourning dove, it is absolutely regular..

Mourning doves and pigeons are the world’s worst nest builders. They are amid the very best mom and dad, but they seem to be to have skipped the class where by nest making was taught. They have a extended history of making flimsy nests in inappropriate sites, these types of as ladders, fence tops, vehicle hoods.

Often they get it proper, but a good deal of occasions they never. On the other hand, you’ll almost never discover much more devoted fowl mom and dad. The two the male and woman choose turns sitting on the eggs, and really should they properly incubate them, the two birds do the job difficult to feed and treatment for their tiny brood.

The nest, this kind of as it was, might have been dismantled by other birds wanting for easy nesting materials, but it is extra probable the smattering of products blew absent.

If you can collect some grass clippings or straw in a shallow bowl or container, and relocate the eggs into it without having leading to as well considerably of a disturbance, then you may well be ready to preserve the brood. Maintain the bowl in the exact site as the primary nest, but make guaranteed it is steady and will not tip above.

Shift the h2o dish away from the nest. You never want to appeal to other birds to the instant spot.

Dear JOAN: This thirty day period for the 1st time, we have ground squirrels digging and tunneling in a slender dust strip between two big parts of concrete.

They’re pushing up filth and rocks on to our walkway and consuming tender shoots of new tomato and bean plants. The neighbor has been applying new ultrasonic gopher-ridder gadgets, which I suspect have stimulated the pests to go away his garden and occur about in this article.

Any recommendations? Trapping? Smoke bombs?

T.C., Los Gatos

Expensive T.C.: Have you regarded as shifting?