{"id":769962,"date":"2026-05-03T07:31:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T07:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/769962\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T07:31:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T07:31:17","slug":"heres-what-to-do-and-not-do-if-you-find-an-animal-nesting-near-your-home-this-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/769962\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s what to do \u2014and not do \u2014 if you find an animal nesting near your home this spring"},"content":{"rendered":"

For four years, a mallard has nested behind a bush near the front door of Caitlin Deal\u2019s home in a Minneapolis-St. Paul suburb, offering an up-close glimpse of nature for her young son and lessons for how people can coexist with wildlife<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The duck, dubbed Martha by the family, sits on her nest for about a month every spring in the tree-lined neighborhood of Eagan, Minnesota. After her eggs hatch around Mother\u2019s Day<\/a>, the birds toddle away.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels nice that she trusts that area, that she trusts us to be able to come back year after year,\u201d said Deal, whose four-year-old son Owen\u2019s first word was \u201cDuck.\u201d<\/p>\n

A female mallard duck sits on eggs in her nest tucked next to the front door of a home in Eagan, Minnesota, on April 26, 2026. AP<\/p>\n

Spring<\/a>\u00a0is when wildlife \u2014 everything from birds to deer to\u00a0alligators<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0bear their young<\/a>, often in locations more suitable to humans than animals<\/a>. Experts maintain that with a few exceptions and some preparation, coexisting with creatures usually is easy \u2014 and often a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy two biggest things are: Stay away from the nest<\/a> or the little family as much as possible, and stay curious,\u201d said Brittney Yohannes, a spokesperson for the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Leave it alone<\/p>\n

Find a nest or baby animal? Wildlife experts advise leaving it alone.<\/p>\n

Removing a nest can be illegal under federal law. If a bird has nested in a strange spot, homeowners<\/a> can call their local wildlife agency for advice, said Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Beth Quillian.<\/p>\n

Besides birds<\/a>, people often find\u00a0deer fawns<\/a>\u00a0curled up in a corner of their yard or by an air conditioning unit. The fawn may appear abandoned, but Quillian said the doe usually has hidden her babe while foraging.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is to protect the fawn, to leave it there, sometimes hours at a time, but the doe will come back to that fawn, and that is natural and normal,\u201d Quillian said.<\/p>\n

People should leave fawns alone unless there are clear signs they need help.<\/p>\n

Protective parents<\/p>\n

As cute as the animals may appear, people should remember that\u00a0wildlife can be, well, wild<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ducks are docile on the nest, but Canada geese<\/a> and swans can be aggressive, said John Coluccy, of the conservation group Ducks Unlimited. A goose can knock a person to the ground and hit them hard enough to break a bone, he said.<\/p>\n

Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota medical director Dr. Agnes Hutchinson examines a baby rabbit that was brought into the center in Roseville on April 30, 2026. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re very, very aggressive. They\u2019re long-lived and they protect their reproductive investment very vigorously,\u201d Coluccy said.<\/p>\n

Quillian noted that in parts of the West, people may encounter elk calves, usually in forested and coastal areas, but possibly even near homes. Elk can weigh 500 pounds (225 kilograms) or more, and cow elk are also incredibly protective of their young.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing to see wildlife, to get that opportunity, but we have to give them distance, respect their space, especially when they have young,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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In Florida, alligators<\/a> breed and nest from April to June. Female alligators often build nests that resemble piles of leaves, near ponds, retention basins and ditches. They aggressively guard their nests, often while hiding in water nearby, said North Florida Wildlife Center Animal Care Manager Darian Dowse.<\/p>\n

The key is to keep your distance from mounds of leaves and to keep dogs on sidewalks, away from shorelines.<\/p>\n

People with concerns about nests should call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Dowse said.<\/p>\n

Dealing with problems<\/p>\n

Sometimes animals like raccoons<\/a>, squirrels or foxes will hole up with their young in spots that just don\u2019t work, such as in a covered boat.<\/p>\n

One solution that doesn\u2019t rely on live traps or hiring a pest control service is to install a shop lamp to flood the area with light, said Tami Vogel, executive director of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota. A mom will usually move her young within a couple of days.<\/p>\n

Find a nest or baby animal? Wildlife experts advise leaving it alone. AP<\/p>\n

People can also install metal mesh to close off sheds and decks, she said.<\/p>\n

Vogel said the center staff try to educate people about their options.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want them to know we\u2019re here as a safety net and what to look for if something goes wrong, and then the good news is, two weeks later, their neighbor may have a similar situation and they can pass along that information,\u201d Vogel said.<\/p>\n

What about pets?<\/p>\n

Dogs and cats<\/a> are predators, so the key is to keep them close.<\/p>\n

For Deal in Minnesota, a big concern for Martha\u2019s safety revolved around her family\u2019s dog, Piper, who loves to chase animals.<\/p>\n

Deal said the family made sure to keep Piper on a leash, and Martha didn\u2019t seem to mind.<\/p>\n

Rabbits<\/a> are incredibly prolific in the Midwest and are one of the most common subjects of calls to the Minnesota center, in part because they nest in yards, Yohannes said.<\/p>\n

The center recommends placing a laundry basket over a nest during the day to keep dogs away, and removing it near evening so the mother can tend to her young.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the best pieces of advice I can give is just understanding that that period of coexisting with this nest or this family will be temporary,\u201d Yohannes said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For four years, a mallard has nested behind a bush near the front door of Caitlin Deal\u2019s home…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":769963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[27],"tags":[56544,3425,19528,984,1165,3663,63804,159,9877,67,132,68,837],"class_list":["post-769962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-alligators","tag-animals","tag-birds","tag-deer","tag-lifestyle","tag-minnesota","tag-rabbits","tag-science","tag-spring","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wildlife"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116509480394206585","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/769963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}