A mourning dove wants to call the top of an outside ceiling fan home. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

It happened overnight. Without warning. They were taking up residency in the back yard. Uninvited. Unwelcome.

The mess was pretty outstanding. The efficiency clearly lacking.

I was afraid I might run afoul of the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act if I forcibly evicted the two mourning doves.

Mama, that’s how I referred to the one sitting on the nest atop the ceiling fan in the outside area, gave me the stink eye as I stood in the doorway. Dad, the one bringing the twigs, was wary of me; pausing his work if I were too close.

Turning on the fan didn’t do a thing. Well, it didn’t do what I wanted, which was to get mama to leave and the nest to fall.

With it being July 3 I was pretty sure no government agency was going to provide with me information I needed. What surprised me was to get a return call July 4 from Edith at Chico Animal Control.

Twigs that didn’t make it into the nest accumulate on the ground. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

She said if there were no eggs in the nest, to place the nest someplace else—tree, bush, that sort of thing. She said if there were hatchlings, then wait until they were able to fly before relocating the nest. She said I would not be violating federal law.

I waited until mama left the nest that evening before the removal process began.

Up the ladder I went. Wow, what a haphazard home they had created. There was literally more debris on the ground than on the fan. You couldn’t even it call it a nest; it was just a bunch of twigs.

I cleaned up the whole mess and haven’t heard from the squatters or seen them. Hopefully, they’ve made a home someplace more appropriate.