Phoebes have nested every year on top of the fluorescent light in the barn over my boat. I love to listen to the babies chirping for food, and to watch the adults catching insects from the air outside the barn. I’d just put a tarp down under the nest to catch the crap from the nest. They are relatively nondescript birds, but I loved them. We pulled the boat out to work on it last week, and I shut the door to the barn. Normally, the barn door does not shut all the way because the tongue of the boat gets in the way. Who knew that termite-ridden old barn was tight enough to hold a small bird?? When I opened the door yesterday, mom was dead under the nest, and babies were all dead too. Lots of huge, disgusting grey maggots on mom and in the nest. I will miss them.
That is, I will miss the birds, not the maggots, which are now fish food.
good nest sites are found by birds every year. some bird will find the building before long.