You find a bird's nest in your kayak... WITH EGGS. I found this in my Green Boat the night before the Great Falls Race on my way to do practice laps. This was actually the second time I've found a bird's nest in my kayak this year. The first time was after returning from a month in the Grand Canyon.I store my kayak outside, standing up vertically, and birds probably like it because the cockpit is like a tree hole. It's protected from the elements and high enough off the ground that predators can't get to it. We also have a bird feeder out back, so seeds are readily available. What more could a bird want?
Unfortunately, I do want to kayak from time to time, so I had to evict them. The mama bird actually hit me in the chest in her rush to escape (I didn't know the nest was there). I carefully removed the nest and put it somewhere else, but I've heard that birds won't return to a nest after it's been disturbed, so I probably just made some raccoon's day.
The moral of the story is... if you're going to store your kayak outside, either buy a cockpit cover or get used to animals using your kayak as a flophouse.
