ST Alpha - "Domestic cats kill more birds than hawks, owls and falcons? " (Reading a Post)

SlickerTalk
Search Archives
The Leaderboard
The FAQ

Down to Post

Backboards:

Posts: 150

In response to "true, but not nearly as many as domestic cats. -- nm" by loosilu

Domestic cats kill more birds than hawks, owls and falcons?

Posted by Krusty (aka Krustylu) Aug 19 '09, 11:14

Why does that not seem right to me?

Responses:

Owls eat a lot of mice but the other two spend their day hunting. - Krusty Aug 19, 11:17 5
- good thing there are numbers available. :) -- nm - loosilu Aug 19, 11:17 4
  - Which I can't find. :-( -- nm - Krusty Aug 19, 11:18 3
    - you must be a bad googler. -- nm - loosilu Aug 19, 11:19 2
      - Yes, that's the problem. - Krusty Aug 19, 11:24 1
        
        there's a lot of scattered stuff, that's what I found. But every one - loosilu Aug 19, 11:25
there aren't as many raptors as you might think. Lots of research regarding cats killing wild birds. I just did a quick google but there is too much - loosilu Aug 19, 11:16 1
- It's one of the biggest drivers of complaints againferal cat populations. -- nm - znufrii Aug 19, 11:19
doesn't seem right to me either. birds of prey hunt smaller birds everywhere, everyday, the odd cat might get lucky and catch a bird once in a while. -- nm - Andie Aug 19, 11:16 21
- Heh, found this immediately. "Some folks don't seem willing to accept the magnitude of the cat predation problem." (Not judging, just quoting!) -- (link) - mara Aug 19, 11:18 16
  - well, i have had cats my whole life and would be *really* surprised if the average cat killed more than one bird every two weeks, all year long. -- nm - Andie Aug 19, 11:20 14
    - I had 2 cats for 17 years each and don't recall them ever killing a bird. -- nm - Jim Aug 19, 11:26
    - and using that number, plus the total number of pet and wild cats, you get a *lot* of birds. -- nm - loosilu Aug 19, 11:21 4
      - i'm saying i doubt that number. -- nm - Andie Aug 19, 11:23 3
        
        I think he's undershooting. -- nm - loosilu Aug 19, 11:23 2
        
        based on what? -- nm - Andie Aug 19, 11:25 1
        
        feral cats. -- nm - loosilu Aug 19, 11:25
    - (they are saying .683 birds/week.) -- nm - Andie Aug 19, 11:21 7
      - that's for a well fed cat. what about feral cats? - loosilu Aug 19, 11:23 6
        
        (a) i doubt their number and (b) that was an average for all cats from mara's article - Andie Aug 19, 11:24 5
        
        but they use the same rate for feral cats regardless of the number, and to me common sense says - loosilu Aug 19, 11:27
        
        and here is an article questioning those numbers. -- (link) - Andie Aug 19, 11:26
        
        I doubt those numbers too. I can see feral cats killing a lot of birds and their numbers are very large. - Krusty Aug 19, 11:26 2
        
        the cat population outnumbers birds of prey, far as I know. -- nm - loosilu Aug 19, 11:28 1
        
        You're right and the cats probably kill more per year based solely on their large numbers in the wild. - Krusty Aug 19, 11:35
  - yep, it's quite amazing. -- nm - loosilu Aug 19, 11:19
- birds of prey mostly eat small mammals. -- nm - loosilu Aug 19, 11:17 3
  - ...and rural and suburban cats kill far more birds than urban cats. -- nm - loosilu Aug 19, 11:19 2
    - also I'd think urban domesticated cats are more likely to be "indoor" cats. -- nm - znufrii Aug 19, 11:20 1
      - there are a lot of feral urban cats. they have to eat something. -- nm - loosilu Aug 19, 11:22

Post a message top

Domestic cats kill more birds than hawks, owls and falcons?

Replies are disabled on threads older than 7 days.