I have gutted my entire yard (except for a bit of Tomato bed) to build a full roof extension across the south side of the house. It's 12 feet deep and never again will sunshine touch our southern block wall and windows. However, to make this work I want to remove a dying 50 year old Ash tree that will interfere with the patio roof and convert the entire space to a seriously arid garden.

Chopping into the tree today we were brought to a screeching halt by a nesting gray dove. You don't mess with a mama and her babies, hatched or not. There may be more; the foliage is too thick to tell right now.

So, when's a good time to take a tree down and be sure there are no nesting birds in it? I don't want to wait for December when it finally goes leafless, but is there a time of no-nesting, across the board, that we can count on?