[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by Stuckinda60s

Put a rubber snake where the birds can see it somewhere close to where they're building the nest. They'll find someplace else, in a jiffy. Owls in the vicinity also work.

These birds are too unpredictable and persistent for me to keep rubber snakes in all the possible locations. I've had them build a nest inside my garage between three cans of primer and paint on top of a cabinet because I left the garage door up. They've frequently built nests in potted houseplants we put out on the front porch in the spring. Like I mentioned, I just cleaned one out of my gas grill yesterday before she could lay eggs in it.
The photo below is a gas weedeater that was leaning against the house near the basement door. That's a nest (with eggs) sitting right on top...lol That's just to name a few places they've targeted.
I'm thinking competition must be tough for prime nesting with the number of birds in the area. They are absolutely frantic this time of year.
By the way, I've had my share or REAL snakes in several of those areas as well.