Cat catching baby birds

I awoke at the unearthly hour of 4.30 this morning to hear my dog howling in the shed, I had to haul myself out of bed to investigate and I found him chasing the tails off two terrified swallows around the shed.
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Why keep birds in the shed .I'm sure that they must have kept the poor dog awake chipping all night :D
 
Last year Blackbirds built a nest in the hedging on top of the wall only about 4 feet from mams back door.

When the babies were flushed out of the nest, the dog must have got one and mam came out to dog in the shed with dead baby bird. She said she could not look at the murderer for a few days.

Lo and behold, birds came back this year. First attempt she scuppered the nest, said it was too stressful, but when the birds built a second nest in the exact same spot she had not got the heart to remove it having watched mother bird tirelessly building it. This year three little blue speckled eggs, but only one hatched.

Dog had to be kept indoors and only let out the back on a leash when it came near the time for the fledgling to be evicted from nest. Happened this week, bird fluttered around the garden for I think best part of a couple of days and then flew away successfully.

Result. It has been brilliant watching the parents come and feed the bird. They were so close to the house you could see the eggs(then baby bird) from about 2 foot away.
 
MandaC said:
Last year Blackbirds built a nest in the hedging on top of the wall only about 4 feet from mams back door.

When the babies were flushed out of the nest, the dog must have got one and mam came out to dog in the shed with dead baby bird. She said she could not look at the murderer for a few days.

Lo and behold, birds came back this year. First attempt she scuppered the nest, said it was too stressful, but when the birds built a second nest in the exact same spot she had not got the heart to remove it having watched mother bird tirelessly building it. This year three little blue speckled eggs, but only one hatched.

Dog had to be kept indoors and only let out the back on a leash when it came near the time for the fledgling to be evicted from nest. Happened this week, bird fluttered around the garden for I think best part of a couple of days and then flew away successfully.

Result. It has been brilliant watching the parents come and feed the bird. They were so close to the house you could see the eggs(then baby bird) from about 2 foot away.
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Sometimes when we start messing about with nature, we do more harm than good.
I know your mother was well intentioned, but what she actually did was cause a lot of stress to the birds. Birds use a tremendous amount of energy building a nest - to then have that nest destroyed means that they have to do it all over again, and it is exhausting for them.

The best thing to do is prevent them from building the nest, and they will nest elsewhere.
 
My parents went the other direction and constructed an elaborate screen to hide the nest from magpies and put an old mattress on the ground for the fledgings. They don't have pets and God help any cats that come near that garden . . . .
 
I would never put bells on our cats. For me, the occasional dead bird or rabbit is a small price to pay for having a rodent free house.

God help any cats that come near that garden . . . .
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:confused: What's that supposed to mean?

Ah the poor wee birdie wirdies but yet all out war on the cats apparently?!

The sentiment reminds me of the militant anti-abortionists who in their zeal for the right to life will go as far as to murder doctors who carry out abortions.

All this bird stuff is often based purely on emotion and usually has very little to do with a concern for the balance of nature or dwindling species etc - as I said, if the rat or mouse population was in decline due to the antics of cats I don't think too many people would complain - why not?
 
my cats four years old now and had never shown much desire for hunting, but have had 3 birds left for me in the last fortnight. wouldn't be so disturbing if they hadn't all been decapitated :( bell won't work as he's like houdini with collars, and can't keep him in as he has been known to pee on the furniture instead of the litter tray if he can't go outside!!
 
Brendan Burgess said:
...So we should take extra measures to protect our wildlife - such as putting a bell on the cat, keeping it indoors...
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Yes and yes...


Brendan Burgess said:
...or chaining the cat to a post if you really want to have it in your back garden...
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Eh... No...
I hope that was said tongue in cheek...
It is possible to adapt gardens to keep cats within its confines... without the use of chains...
 
have had 3 birds left for me in the last fortnight. wouldn't be so disturbing if they hadn't all been decapitated :(
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Was wondering where all the small birds were this year. Looks like your cats have an open season on the poor little creatures.

I am going to put a muzzle on him tonight
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I dont agree with that. Imagine if you were locked up in a shed listening to two people ranting on all night and you were muzzled and could'nt tell them to shut up.
 
brendan burgess said:
only to a point. The domestic cat is not a native species. We are disturbing the balance of nature by bringing in these hunters into an environment where they don't belong. So we should take extra measures to protect our wildlife
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+1
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Only to a point. The domestic cat is not a native species. We are disturbing the balance of nature by bringing in these hunters into an environment where they don't belong. So we should take extra measures to protect our wildlife - such as putting a bell on the cat, keeping it indoors, or chaining the cat to a post if you really want to have it in your back garden.
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imho, blaming cats for endangering the wildlife in Ireland is rather lame - you'd see more animals hit by cars or chased away by destroying their natural habitat by humans than killed by cats
in fact, one of the arguments for cats is, that by hunting the rodents such as mice and rats cats in fact help protect the nests because rats and mice rather enjoy snacking on eggs and young
the biggest damage ever done to Ireland was by people - culling the forests and extermination of predators domestic to Ireland to create pastures for sheep and cows and to protect them caused more mess and imbalance in the ecosystem than a small cat could ever do.
furthermore, you've got the use of insecticides, extensive housing developments - killing off of one or two fledglings or birds by cats pales in comparison with what humans do every day to nature
 
I am blown away by the opinion that anyone should be allowed to keep a cat and so what if it kills the 'occasional' bird.
 
guys, again, can we please put the whole discussion into perspective. one would assume this country is riddled with cats who are after the poor birds who are slowly disappearing because our pets are chasing them non-stop and won't allow their offspring to grow up.
this is not true. while cats are occasionally chasing birds, they are also hunting rodents, who are the real plague of the country. while my cat may come home with the occasional bird, he is also going after the mice and other rodents and i bet he is doing more useful job doing it than us, who can only use pesticides and other poisons to get rid of the vermin - and thus endangering other species /including birds - what was the story with the white-tailed eagle?/ more than our kitties could ever do.
we discuss the cats like they are the biggest threat to our nature while in reality it is really us.
 
roytheboyo said:
I am blown away by the opinion that anyone should be allowed to keep a cat and so what if it kills the 'occasional' bird.
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Really? you are 'blown away' ?

Why exactly?

And once again, I ask:

All this bird stuff is often based purely on emotion and usually has very little to do with a concern for the balance of nature or dwindling species etc - as I said, if the rat or mouse population was in decline due to the antics of cats I don't think too many people would complain - why not?
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Caveat said:
All this bird stuff is often based purely on emotion and usually has very little to do with a concern for the balance of nature or dwindling species etc - as I said, if the rat or mouse population was in decline due to the antics of cats I don't think too many people would complain - why not?
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it's like people refusing to eat the deer because of the cute little bambi but tucking into a huge blue steak with pleasure - our hypocritical values
 
I am blown away because this is another example of the impact people have on other species, in many cases without even realising it, similar to putting out poison and the thousands of other ways we are destroying the environment.

I set up a bird table which used to attract lots of different types of birds, i have seen the total amount, as well as the amount of different types dwindle as the number of neighbours increased, and therefore the number of cats increase. Cats dont always bring killed birds home, they kill serious amounts of birds, which are already under pressure from other sources.

Regarding your mouse/rat question my reply would be that humans should take every step possible to limit the damage that introduced species do to any other animals, including rats/mice. I for one would be concerned if numbers of rats/mice were dwindling, as they have their place too, but i dont see that happening, while i do see bird numbers dwindling, because of cats and other reasons.
 
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