Nebraskaland

OCTOBER 2015 • NEBRASKAland 37 effectiveness. The beepers were expensive. Then I found "Birdsbesafe" collars (Birdsbesafe.com). These wildly colored and patterned, two-inch wide bands fit over a cat's standard collar. Their website claims that songbirds see bright colors especially well. A stalking cat wearing the collar will be instantly noticed and the "birds simply fly to safety!" There were also testimonials: "Gorilla used to kill over a bird a week without the collar; now he's down to about 1 or 2 a year, minus fledglings." Of course, I didn't believe a word of it, but the collars were only about 10 dollars, so I bought one. Though large, KR didn't fight the collar and wore it with apparent dignity. A month went by, no dead birds, then another month. In the two years he has worn the Birdsbesafe collar he has deposited on our porch only a cardinal, a yellow- feathered warbler beyond recognition to species and two fledgling robins. I estimate his bird killing has declined 80 to 90 percent. The website's testimonials seemed true, though KR's hunting of mice, rabbits and squirrels remains unimpeded. A recent study published in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation found the collars similarly effective. Conducted in St. Lawrence County, New York, the study compared the hunting success of cats wearing the Birdsbesafe collar to that of cats without the collars. The collar- wearing cats killed 19 times fewer birds in spring than the collar-less cats, and 3.4 times fewer birds in fall. According to the Birdsbesafe website the collars resulted in an overall 87 percent reduction in bird killing. The collars had a less dramatic and clear- cut reduction in mammal kills, similar to my observations. This is, however, only one study. More research is likely needed to determine the Birdsbesafe collar's true effectiveness. In addition to that of birds, KR's collar has drawn the attention of others. For example, when our plumber came over to fix a leaky faucet he said with a smirk to Grace, "My little brother told me there was a cat in this neighborhood that wears a clown costume. So you're its owner?" "Yes, that's us," Grace responded. Perhaps the little brother was in the carload of high school kids who drove by our yard pointing and laughing at KR. A little embarrassment, however, is worth the benefits. An ornithologist recently estimated that if only one percent of house cats in the United States wore the Birdsbesafe collars it could save 1.7 million birds annually. This is significant. ■ A Predatory Nature M iddle Eastern farmers first domesticated the wildcat (Felix sylvestris) possibly as early as 12,000 years ago to protect stored grain from rats and mice. Though now considered a separate species, the domestic cat (F. catus) has maintained its predatory instincts. A recent study estimated that the United States' 95 million house cats and 30 to 100 million feral cats annually kill 1.3 to four billion wild birds, ranging from songbirds to gamebirds, in addition to six to 22 billion small mammals. Feral cats make two-thirds of the kills. For comparison, a 2010 publication estimated that 100 million to a billion birds are killed each year in the US flying into windows, 174 million die from impacts with high tension lines, and 60 million meet their end colliding with cars. This older source estimated that domestic cats kill 100 million to nearly a billion birds annually. To study their year-round hunting habits, researchers in Georgia recently attached small video cameras to 60 free-ranging house cats. They found that one-third of the cats were killing or capturing wildlife, averaging one kill for every 17 hours outside. Besides birds, among the camera- toting cats' kills were chipmunks, voles, lizards, frogs and small snakes. Interestingly, the feline foragers brought only about one-fourth of their kills back to their residence. Roughly one-half their victims were left uneaten at the kill site and about one-fourth were eaten nearby. Despite carnivorous cats, crash-inducing windows and high wires and speeding automobiles, it is important to remember that destruction of native habitats remains the top threat to our birds. ■ This camera-toting tabby participated in a recent study in Georgia to determine the year-round hunting habits of domestic cats. PHOTO BY KERRIE ANNE LOYD

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