>cats are usually
>"feeder predators" very small proportions of cat kills come away from
>feeder areas.

I'd be interested in seeing your source for this. The papers I've read
claim that bird-preying cats (not all cats take birds) mostly go for: 1)
nesting birds, especially ground and shrub nesting birds, and especially at
night 2) fledglings (sometimes not so much by attacking the fledgling
directly, as by so agitating the parents that they can't feed the babies
adequately), and 3) exhausted migrating birds. I suppose that which kinds
of damage are the most important could depend on the habitats around, and
whether the local cats tend to be out mostly during the night or the day,
which depends on local human customs. I can easily believe that the kills
most people _see_ are from around feeders, but contrary to popular belief,
most cats bring very few of their kills home, and it takes a well equipt
(radio collars) and trained observer, watching many cats, to see the whole
story.

As a cat lover with two indoor-only cats, and as a property owner who is
sick and tired of neighbors' cats damaging my property and garden, I am
very much in favor of leash laws for cats. Loose cats do a lot more damage
than killing birds; they mess yards and gardens and cause water pollution,
kill plants, tear apart screen doors, claw wooden structures into shreds,
spread feline diseases (some of which cannot be vaccinated against) etc.,
but too many owners figure that if they don't notice that damage in their
own yard, it simply isn't happening, and anyway, why should they have to
bother to clean out a litter box? :-( Indoor cats live twice or more as
long on average, and cost _far_ less in vet bills. Cats adapt extremely
well to indoor living (even ex-ferals), and for those very few that don't,
or are owned by easily manipulated people (cats are expert manipulators!)
it's not that hard to build an enclosed outdoor kitty playground/kennel
complete with shrubs and other fun things, and perhaps a cat door for free
access to it.

I have one suet feeder for the bushtits and one hanging sunflower feeder
that only attracts house finches and a few chickadees, none of which seem
to be at much risk from cats if they're adult and healthy. The siskins,
juncos, and sparrows much prefer to eat birch seed, both up in the tree and
on the ground, but they all seem to be pretty alert on the whole. In the
works is a cat-proof (or at least resistant) fence around the yard, and
native plants to produce seed/fruit and feed insects which can then feed
the birds, which should not only bring in a somewhat better species
variety, but spread them out and give them better hiding spots. Probably
better nutrition too--I doubt that any suet mix is as good for them as a
steady supply of tasty insects...and even though my shrubs are still
toddlers, the insect population last summer was wonderful in comparison to
the surrounding desert of grass. (At least one of my neighbors hates me
:-))

>So if anybody has a problem with cats either find a
>place where birds can feed in safety, or take down the feeders. Just
>remember we are suppossedly helping the birds, not luring them to their
>death.

Yes, and/or give proper fencing a try. It usually involves using a
fine-mesh fishnet (at the top of a regular fence) that won't support a
cat's weight when it tries to climb over it, which is very upsetting to
them. Plans are available from several cat organizations, and there is at
least one commercial version available (Cat Fence-in). I've heard that
it's pretty effective at discouraging raccoons too, which is a good trick!
The book _Feeding Winter Birds in the Northwest_ also has some suggestions
for how to set up chicken-wire sections to slow down a cat pounce enough
that it's not likely to catch anything. Working for cat leash laws in your
area is a good longer-term policy.

Kelly:

Shooting or otherwise chasing a cat rarely teaches it not to come around
something as attractive as bird feeders or shrubbery; it only teaches it
not to come around when you happen to be there watching. Cats are smart,
quickly figure out who is responsible for missiles or loud noises, and are
quite capable of keeping an eye on who is looking out of windows at them.
If you really want this sort of solution, the only method I've heard of
that works reliably (even on graffiti artists :-)) is to hook up a motion
detector to a dishwasher valve to a hose and sprinkler, so that the cat
gets wet whether you are there or not (these setups are available
commercially, too). But this time of year, I don't think you want to leave
your hose turned on!

If a particular cat is a problem, find the owners and talk to them.
Explain politely (at least to begin with :-)) what the trouble is, and that
regardless of any lack of leash laws, you do have the right to trap a
problem animal and send it to the pound if you and they can't work out a
better solution. Explain that indoor cats live longer healthier lives
(10-15 years as opposed to 5 for an outdoor cat), and that loose cats are
responsible not only for bird kills, but other evironmental damage such as
local water pollution (pet fecal matter is the largest non-point pollutant
in most urban/suburban areas, including Seattle and King County). Refer
them to their vet for more information if they choose not to believe you.
Odds are it will all fall on deaf ears, so you may be forced to eventually
catch the cat and take it to a shelter. Tell the owner that you did so and
where you took it so that the cat has a fair chance of being rescued; it's
not the cat at fault here, remember. At least the owner will have had a
warning, and sometimes, if your approach is reasonable enough, and if they
honestly didn't know about the problems, they might actually take better
care to keep the cat in. My record so far is three failures and one
success. One failure moved away last year, and for the others I decided to
hold off and try the fence before collecting cats, since I suspect that in
these instances it would be a death sentence.

If you don't know who the owner is, catch the cat (harder now that it knows
you don't like it :-)) and attach a message to the collar (you may want to
keep a couple of collars handy in case it doesn't have one of its own)
amounting to the above. Give your phone number and ask to talk to them to
work out a solution; anonomous notes are much more likely to be ignored.
If you never hear back and the cat keeps your collar/message on for days or
weeks, it may not have an owner, so catch it again and either help find it
a responsible indoor home or turn it over to a shelter.

Oh yes, make sure you keep your feeders clean and the seed dry and fresh,
and warn any bird-feeding neighbors to do the same. Salmonella poisoning
and some fungal diseases can also be a big killer/weakener of feeder birds.
Didn't salmonella turn out to be what was killing lots of Seattle siskins
last winter? A sick bird is going to be really easy cat-fodder, and the
cat will take the blame for a kill that should really be counted against
contaminated seed. I think my wooden feeder killed at least one siskin
last year because I wasn't able to keep it clean enough :-(. That feeder
has been replaced with plastic, and I only put one day's worth of seed in
at a time, brush it out well before refilling, scrub it once a week, and
hope that my plants grow up soon so I can stop doing all this!



Allyn Weaks allyn at u.washington.edu
allyn at cornetto.chem.washington.edu
Pacific Northwest Native Plant Gardening:
http://chemwww.chem.washington.edu/natives/