Thanks to all for their replies. It breaks my heart every time I see a
dead bird. I also fear
for the life of my cat, since coyotes show up in the neighborhood.
Nevertheless, I feel I have to
strike a compromise. At the risk of raising a storm of protest, I assert
that my cat would be even
more deprived of a full life than I would be if *I* were confined to an
exclusively indoor life. And I
don't think a "catio" would suffice.
So I do as much as I can: I don't let the cat out until several hours after
dawn, limit him to a few hours a day,
restrict him severely when baby robins are due out of the nest, and in
general try to keep him with me as I
work in my very large garden and yard. If my cat were catching birds
often, I would
probably change my mind and keep him in altogether.
I acknowledge the amazing predatory abilities: my cat is quite small (8 1/2
lbs) and has no front claws (that way
when adopted), so I expected him to be unable to snag anything. But he's
still capable. Honestly, I feel the voles
are fair game, but any bird breaks my heart. I've been here 47 years but
never seen a bushtit caught until now.
On Monday, July 14, 2025 at 11:37:00 AM UTC-6 David Suddjian wrote:
> Cats can jump. And Bushtits are low sometimes, where there is low cover
> like shrubs.
>
> David
>
> On Mon, Jul 14, 2025 at 10:42 AM <dgulb......> <dgulb......>
> wrote:
>
>> Can anyone tell me why Bushtits are subject to cat predation?
>> I never see them on the ground. They are usually at least 6' up
>> and moving fast. Or could it be that Magpies cause some to
>> fall out of the nest where they are found by a cat?
>>
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