For the Birds: Feathers versus Felines

Photo by Christine Southwick

By Christine Southwick

Cats are smart, adaptable, prolific carnivores. Prehistorically, they existed on all continents except Antarctica.

Cats have the most ingrained prey drive of any group of mammals. They will hunt and kill even if they are not hungry.

This has been proven in cat studies repeatedly. Indeed, some studies in the US have shown that well-fed cats become Super-Predators, and proceed to reduce a wide spectrum of wildlife including shrews, voles, amphibians, and of course birds. Birds that feed or nest on or near the ground are the most threatened by pet and feral cats. In this area, that’s Bewick’s Wrens, Juncos, Robins, Varied Thrushes, hummingbirds, Flickers, and Band-Tailed Pigeons.

When I was a teenager, I had a cat that would deposit 3-6 shrews, voles, field mice, and other little furry bundles on the backdoor mat every morning. I would praise her, and then feed her. She never ate what she brought me, but she was a mighty hunter. She probably killed birds. I know she caught moths. Why would she ignore birds?

I protect and feed birds because I think that humans have stacked the odds against their survival by:

• Cutting down, building on, and paving over their feeding, watering, and resting stops they need every spring and fall migration, and eliminating their nesting sites once they get there;

• Creating barriers of glass and towers of light that kill hundreds of thousands of flying birds each year;

• And by poisoning their food, and their water, with pesticides, oils and acid rains.

It is estimated, that in the US, alone, over a million birds are killed annually by cats. Some groups say this number is too low, and others that it is too high; I feel comfortable accepting this number as being a mid-range number.

Best estimates are that outside cats, including pet cats allowed out during part of the day, will kill at least fifteen birds a year. Feral cats will eat their kills; pets usually just leave their kills.

I have cats. I have found that given a window that they can look out, or an indoor–outdoor run, they are happy and contented. I made my own cat runs. Now you can find a number of types and sizes on line.

Help both your cats and the wild birds live long healthy lives. Keep them separate from each other.

Christine Southwick is on the Board of the Puget Sound Bird Observatory and is their Winter Urban Color-banding Project Manager. She is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat Steward, having completed their forty hour class. We're happy that she's sharing her expertise with us about the birds in our backyards.