I used to hang suet cake in a wire mesh basket about 6 feet above the
ground. A crow took to coming regularly to glean the fallen tidbits
under the basket. Then it learned to make short flights up to the suet
where it would take a quick whack at the cake before dropping back.
Eventually it managed to hang from the basket for a few seconds, wings
flapping furiously. One day I was watching this crow at work, when a
dark blur (which turned out to be a very large cat), shot out from under
our deck, covered the 30 feet to the suet in a flash, then rocketed
straight up vertically like one of those supersonic military jets doing
a 'snap-up' intercept maneuver. The cat grasped the crow between
outstretched paws, right at the apogee of its leap. As the two fell
together, the bird disentangled itself and made good an escape. But I
never saw it back at the suet cake again. So Rob, if the little 'biner
doesn't work, maybe you could get an agile, well-trained, and selective
cat - that shouldn't be too difficult, eh?

Carlo G,
in soggy Surrey, BC