Egg on face after bird's nest relocation goes wrong

By Shawn McAvinue

11:28 AM Friday Sep 5, 2014

Contractors were left with egg on their faces yesterday after a botched nest relocation job.

The contractors had been called in by the Dunedin City Council to remove a blackbird's nest and eggs from a Crawford St traffic light, after it was deemed a distraction for motorists.

Council contract manager Peter Hughes said Fulton Hogan was asked to relocate the nest to a nearby tree.

However, as the nest was being removed, it disintegrated and the contractor dropped the eggs, he said.

''The nest wasn't particularly well constructed and it all went west,'' Mr Hughes said.

He was unsure how many eggs were broken but said it was two or three.

When the ODT visited the site yesterday, a juvenile female blackbird was circling above the traffic lights.

Department of Conservation ranger Graeme Loh said relocating a nest was a solution for several bird species, but blackbirds were ''prone to disturbance''. A blackbird nest needed to be moved close to the original nesting location for the mother to find it.

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