are cats super predators or are birds suicidal?
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 at
10:41 am
i keep reading that in some places, cats are hunting birds to almost extinction. i don’t know, but it would seem like birds would have more of an advantage than the cats’ other prey. i mean, i have never gotten too close to a bird, except for the pidgeons downtown.
Cats are very good predators. In some areas the ground feeding bird species have not evolved to cope with daytime predators. What else hunts little song birds? Feral cats are a threat to many bird species. If they ate pigeons it would be OK with me, but those don’t seem to appeal.
Cats ARE super predators, actually. They’ve been called ‘nature’s perfect killing machines.’ They are fast moving and very could at sneaking up on prey.
Baby birds/ fledglings often get caught because they’re not as quick and can’t fly as well.
Some of the reports are I believe exaggerated, but maybe not all, if there is a rare bird species and a lot of stray cats loose in the area it could happen.
You should at least put several bells on your cats collar to make it harder for them to sneak up undetected. Even with that they’re able to learn how to not shake them – -by that final quick leap at the end, when the bird hears the bell it could be too late.
the only real answer is keeping the cats inside, or in a totally screened area.
I know turkeys will drown themselves in the rain, maybe other birds commit suicide also.
Cats are not " Super Predators ", and birds are not " Suicidal ". Cats are just natural hunters, it comes from thier cousins, the tigers and lions. Birds, well, they are not the smartest, and cats are really fast. Plus, those ‘sites my not me ethically correct.
Oh, birds don’t have a chance as cats are so quick! They will crouch, wait for ages and when the bird is near enough they pounce so fast! A while ago my husband said that any left over bread should be given to the birds. So I used to go outside and break up the bread and scatter it around for the birds. One day I was doing the dishes and i noticed the birds were eating the bread – and my cat was ready to hunt! I shooed the birds away and collected te bread. Sometimes helping really isn’t helping!
Hanora asks “In some areas the ground feeding bird species have not evolved to cope with daytime predators. What else hunts little song birds?”
Here’s a quick list of other daytime song bird predators: hawks, crows, jays, magpies, squirrels, humans(cars, guns, pesticides, habitat destruction).