That's tough when birds choose a difficult place to nest. Do you know if she has eggs yet, or does she have babies? Before you consider the drastic step of moving the nest, you might want to think about how much time she will be there. Incubation time of hummingbird eggs is about 14 days, and once the babies hatch, they will stay in the nest for about 3-4 weeks before leaving the nest and fending for themselves. That means she should be gone by May 1st at the latest, probably a bit sooner. When are the grandkids coming?

It's a known fact that birds are much more sensitive to nest disturbance when they are in the nest-building or incubating stages. Once they have babies, they will tolerate more disturbance and are much less likely to desert the nest. I'm speaking about birds in general, but don't know how sensitive hummingbirds are in this regard.

I would advise against moving the nest, and try to keep the grandkids from running in and out of the door. By May 1st at the latest, she should be done. Then, for heaven's sake, get that lantern down so that she isn't tempted to renest. I'm not familiar with zone 9 nesting, so I'm not sure if she would try to renest, but don't take any chances.

If you move the nest, she might abandon it. Once she has babies you might try it, but you'd still be taking a chance. If you were to move it, I would move it very gradually, a small distance each day. Try to make sure it stays in a place with similar conditions. Bear in mind, though, that she may have chosen that spot for reasons we don't understand--perhaps because it's sheltered and close to the house. Apparently human presence was not a deterrent to her, so presumably she's at least somewhat OK with it. If you were to move the nest from the shade into the sun, or the sun into the shade, or away from the shelter of the house and into the wind, or whatever, it might have a negative affect on her nesting success. The farther along the babies get, though, the less vulnerable they will be.

I should probably also tell you that it is illegal to interfere with nesting birds. No one would likely find out, unless you told them, but if they did find out, you could be in trouble with the Federal government and be subject to fines.

I know you're trying to do what's best for the hummingbird, but I think you're best off leaving the nest where it is, and trying to keep disturbance to a minimum. She'll be gone before you know it.

I hope this helps.

I suggest you leave it right where it is, and let Mother decide.
Good Luck! but I think it will be just fine.

Thanks for the responses. My mom loves wathing the hummingbird and gives me daily updates. The nest hasn't been moved, but the string of lights is beginning to fall, so it will be tightend up, hopefully the mommy bird won't mind, but it is for the safety of her nest. Her nest shouldn't move much.

Over the years we've had several types of birds nest in places like that. What we now do when we have one is to try and train it to our noises. Usually they get spooked by sudden openings of doors etc, as they should since there's any number of things that could eat them. I started it with a nesting dove that chose a potted fern right by our front door. Every time we'd open the door, it would panic and fly away. I started knocking on the door softly before I'd slowly go out and made a certain clicking sound, somewhat like a squirrel :) When I'd come from the outside in, I'd just make the noise and enter slowly without looking at it. It only took a couple days to calm it down and we were able to pretty much open the door at will once it decided the door noise was ok and we weren't a threat. It's worked fairly well with robins and wrens but I don't have experience with a hummer nesting so close...though I wouldn't mind it! For what it's worth...hope it helps.