Mapping the “catscape” formed by a population of pet cats with outdoor access
nature.com
nature.com
Cats are fairly lax, in a manner of speaking, in catching birds. Mice, voles, gophers, and rabbits are easier to catch and more plentiful. We'll see them catch maybe one bird a month.
In contrast, the number of birds in our area is innumerable. We'll get hundreds at our feeders every day, and see dozens of songbirds (Robins, Atarlings, Red Winged Blackbirds, Magpies, Woodpeckers, Pigeons, etc.) while driving into town.
And that's without getting in the raptors (some of whom are a threat to cats).
I imagine humanity's reduction of bird's habitats has a bigger impact than the carnivores we bring with us.
You are very lucky. The last place I lived, the birds almost all disappeared over the course of about five years.
When i first moved there, I couldn't sleep past 5:30am because of the raucous dawn chorus. There were always birds around, and i had several feeders for them all.
By the time I moved away, the chorus was one bird. Maybe. And the feeders never got used.
From what I read on the internet, this is becoming more and more common.
That said, I don’t know what success looks like over different kinds of prey. Over the last year or so we’ve also had a pretty bad outbreak of avian flu which has done a lot to depress bird populations—though my understanding is it has been mainly farmed chickens and turkeys that have been hard hit.
> In one night, a black-footed cat kills between 10 and 14 rodents or small birds, averaging a kill about every 50 minutes, according to Hunter. With a 60 percent success rate, black-footed cats are about three times as successful as lions, which average a successful kill about 20 to 25 percent of the time, Hunter said.
Compare with the domestic house cat - https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12563
> Owners reported that their pets killed an average of 3.5 prey items/month, leading to an estimated ecological impact per cat of 14.2-38.9 prey ha^−1 yr^−1. This is similar or higher than the per-animal ecological impact of wild carnivores but the effect is amplified by the high density of cats in neighborhoods. As a result, pet cats around the world have an ecological impact greater than native predators but concentrated within ~100 m of their homes.
Related...
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380
> We estimate that cats in the contiguous United States annually kill between 1.3 and 4.0 billion birds (median=2.4 billion) (Fig. 1a), with ∼69% of this mortality caused by un-owned cats. The predation estimate for un-owned cats was higher primarily due to predation rates by this group averaging three times greater than rates for owned cats.
I think owners would not be aware of a lot of a cat's hunting activity if it has access to the outdoors.
There is a massive red tailed hawk population. And a moderate Bald Eagle population. Hell, we have started getting Pelicans the last few years, and I simply would not put it past them to swallow a moderate sized mammal.
The Canada Geese and turkeys would win in a fight any day.
It is anecdotal, but it seems to me as waterways become less polluted, you are starting to see these sorts of animals return to even dense urban areas like Chicago.
My son and I are actually gathering data of bird populations in our immediate area. We live in an urban area where half the block consists of 2-3 family apartments. Our yard is a bird highway due to where our home is placed and the trees. The tenants tend to migrate in cohorts. We noticed anecdotally that the bird population grew a year after a few key neighbors, who kept outdoor cats and were cat people who fed strays, moved away.
It’s a difficult issue as like many things, extreme behavior drives extreme outcomes. I’d like to understand the impact of house cats vs mentally ill people who attract feral cats. (Or similar folks who attract disruptive populations of birds like pigeons)
So first, basic obstructions nearby the house/barn are kept low. I have some former field I've mowed down into lawn (full of whatever random stuff is around), there are some trees and rocks around, and that's it. There is plenty of field/woods full of approximately 12.45 billion chipmunks, mice and voles by my rough estimate, but small birds don't tend to ground feed there they and in brush off the ground. Cats can't sneak up well anywhere in the vicinity of feeders.
I have the feeders themselves suspended off the ground with ropes between trees/buildings and a second rope going to pulleys so I can lower them for refilling and cleaning. The feeder bottoms are at least 9-11' off the ground and 10' from the nearest structure or tree. This renders them effectively invulnerable not merely to cats but conveniently squirrels, raccoons, and black bears. With some platforms mixed in, even ground feeders can get some aerial action.
But most do want to be on the ground, and there all it takes is a small low wire fence. And by low I mean low, like a foot or two high maybe. It looks fine in the lawn and is easy to move, it's trivial to step over or for cats to hop over. But by forcing them to jump it destroys any last potential ambush or sprint. In the time they go vertical no bird will miss them and they lose speed. Even though cats can get over without the slightest difficulty it's amazing how they instantly don't even bother, guess they reason out right away that if they have to leap into the air well before their target it's pointless to even try. They don't stalk birds at all at this point just wander by.
The only remaining threat is bird strikes on windows. Cats figure out that noise pretty fast and will go to investigate if they're in the area (which they often aren't granted). No perfectly solution there except to aim to reduce bird strikes which is a good goal anyway. I use a mix of screens and stickers. Window screens as well as their core function of keeping out insects while letting in air are excellent shock absorbers and reflection disrupters for birds. The normal downside is they do interfere with views (and the enjoyment of bird watching to some extent), but high density enhanced visibility screens like UltraVue/BetterVue can help lesson that tradeoff. For windows where screens aren't doable or truly are undesirable (particularly in winter) I use WindowAlert stickers. They actually blend pretty well with windows, being fairly translucent in visible light, but reflect very strong in UV which most birds (particularly song birds) can see but we cannot. They're chemical so they have to be replaced every 4-6 months but are quite effective. I also use some regular visible stickers that simulate spider webs which birds instinctively avoid.
A bit of thought and effort and you can have quite a lot of wildlife living together reasonably well, and that includes a good number of feline friends. Totally natural lawn field, seeding some wildflower meadows, decent varieties of flora with no poisons, carpenter bee houses and so on can all give insects a boost too.
I'm trying to work out how to explain to the neighbors that I love cats, but my yard is my yard and I have a right to not have their cat in it killing birds.
Don't let your cats outside, folks. They kill wildlife, destroy gardens, and poop everywhere.
I agree that we need to think about how to nurture bird populations but keeping cats pent up indoors is wrong - and is reflected by how much worse they behave when that is done.
Prioritizing the feelings of "my cat" over "all the creatures that will be killed, all the neighbors who will have to clean up after my cat, and all the gardens and bird feeders that will suffer damage" is a mindset that is so selfish and myopic.
If you cannot give your cat a quality of life indoors that would not be cruel, you should not own a cat.
What? It's absurd on its face. The only reason cats get this treatment is because we've traditionally allowed it.
Sketchy link to a PDF by UC Davis. I was looking for a reference on the average lifespan of an outdoor cat, which I always here quoted around 2.5 years. It's a little write-up on why it's maybe not so nice to let your cat outside.
Maybe it's different in the UK, but I've seen a number of drivers speed up and swerve in neighborhood streets to run cats over. It's fucked up, but it's a thing. I remember having classmates in high school that would brag about it.
Add every other danger, jumping into a backyard with the wrong dog, parasites, coyotes, and it's not exactly an idyllic stroll even for indoor/outdoor cats.
I'm sure dogs aren't allowed to wander the neighborhood in the UK. I would have no problem if they confined their cat to the yard or let her out while supervising.
Our two cats are quite fulfilled and pleased with their situation despite only going outside on leash.
Does anyone have better researched numbers?
All bar one of the cats that I and my family have had were outdoor cats who lived much longer than that. The exception was run over crossing a dual carriageway to her favourite hunting ground. The latest one of mine lived to nearly seventeen and went out in the woods pretty much everyday. He slept at home in the house though.
We're 2 blocks off of a main road and people drive like idiots down our street. It's not a great place for a cat to roam.
Still kills a good amount of mice though which is great.
One could say Internet is cat-complete.