Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!cmcl2!phri!ccnysci!christ From: christ@ccnysci.UUCP (Chris Thompson) Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: Re: Cats & WIld Birds Message-ID: <3765@ccnysci.UUCP> Date: 28 Nov 89 19:52:43 GMT References: <822@wrgate.WR.TEK.COM> Organization: City College of New York Lines: 56 In article <822@wrgate.WR.TEK.COM>, denise@dadla.WR.TEK.COM (Denise Caire) writes: > I have seen cats at my grandmother's house bothering the birds > at the feeder. She finally put it on a pole and the cats couldn't > climb it. If your concerned that cats are depopulating the birds of > our world, then you are wrong. You must be aware of the real villian; > the greed of mankind. And no, I will not get into it, what with > pesticides, fertilizer, and toxic waste, it's too big to take on. > And someone else (sorry, missed the name-actually, deleted it too soon) wrote: > >Note that the cats have very little success with the urban regulars--adult > >House Sparrows, pigeons, and starlings--but really rake up during migration > >(getting a variety of warbler and wrens, esp.). > > > Are you sure about this? Maybe in your area, but here, the migrating > birds aren't found resting in housing developments. You know, maybe > we should define the environment and vicinities that we are discussing. Well. I think I mentioned an article in Natural History Magazine, a few weeks ago. The article appeared sometime over the summer (I can get an exact citation if anyone is interested). In short, the researchers found that housecats- real pets, not feral or semi-feral-- were THE leading cause of mortality among birds and small mammals in Britain. (Small mammals included not only house mice and rats, but field mice, shrews, voles, and anything else they could catch (I presume)). Their method (the researchers', that is) was to go to all the households in a village and find out if they owned a cat. If so, would they please keep track of everything your cat kills and brings home? Each household was given a plastic bag, which was collected once/week. The carcasses - the number and variety - amazed the authors. Granted, the cats might have brought home carcasses found in the woods, but I don't think cats will play with a corpse, the way a dog would. In my area, migrating birds are often found in urban and suburban zones. Obviously, there is no other place for them to be. I routinely see odd birds near my house, and in Central Park. Unfortunately, when they are forced to concentrate in this fashion, predators of various sorts will also tend to gather. Finally, with regards to feeders: not all birds will forage at a feeder. Some, like palm warblerss, are ground feeders (as are juncos). I'm sure we could come up with a lot more, so safeguarding your feeder is not enough. What you say about the 'greed of mankind' is probably true. However, that alway seemed to me to be one of the more selfish attitudes around: "Well, people are lousy, it's mankind's fault, so I won't have any part-no matter how small-in the solution." Doesn't it make sense to make an effort at doing something- in this case, trying to keep your cat from nailing a bird? Chris Thompson -- Chris Thompson [What does not kill us, pisses us off!!] Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com