It's baby bird season again
Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 8:36 am
Hi all, can I just remind everyone that it's baby bird season again. The parents are busy finding mates, gathering nest material, finding food and, eventually, feeding fledglings, both in and out of the nest. So they're completely distracted and very vulnerable, and the loss of one parent means the loss of all the fledglings, as one parent can't feed them enough. Even worse, the loss of both parents means they will all starve to death.
So can we please be vigilant with our cats. If you can, please try to keep them in from dusk until as late as you can in the morning, as this is when the birds are most active feeding, and cats have better eyesight in poor light, so the birds are at a further disadvantage. This alone will make a huge difference to their survival rate.
If your cat is an avid hunter, please fit them with a safety collar and loud bell. The RSPB say this reduces the kill rate by at least a third, and as I said, one parent dead means the loss of the entire brood, so each bird saved has a knock-on effect.
If you're feeding the birds to help them along, please put the feeders away from shrubs, and cut back the undergrowth, so the cat can't hide before pouncing. This will give ground feeders such as sparrows, chaffinches, dunnocks and blackbirds a better chance to see the cat early and get away.
These rules are valuable all year round, but especially between April and June.
Thanks everyone.
So can we please be vigilant with our cats. If you can, please try to keep them in from dusk until as late as you can in the morning, as this is when the birds are most active feeding, and cats have better eyesight in poor light, so the birds are at a further disadvantage. This alone will make a huge difference to their survival rate.
If your cat is an avid hunter, please fit them with a safety collar and loud bell. The RSPB say this reduces the kill rate by at least a third, and as I said, one parent dead means the loss of the entire brood, so each bird saved has a knock-on effect.
If you're feeding the birds to help them along, please put the feeders away from shrubs, and cut back the undergrowth, so the cat can't hide before pouncing. This will give ground feeders such as sparrows, chaffinches, dunnocks and blackbirds a better chance to see the cat early and get away.
These rules are valuable all year round, but especially between April and June.
Thanks everyone.