Having a cat in your garden will not help you to drive birds out

Winter is slowly approaching and many of us are looking forward to hearing birds singing in our gardens. You have probably already installed birdhouses and bird feeders to help those little creatures survive the winter. Well, let us all hope that the winter frosts will be just right. Not too strong but not too weak either. If you have a cat at home, you know that cats will chase birds and probably drive them out of your garden. This may happen, but if you follow a few basic rules, you can create conditions for a rather peaceful coexistence between cats and birds and they will not interfere with each other.

Location, location, location

Birds love bushes and trees and they mainly gather around them. Make sure to put your birdhouse near trees or bushes and install it about 1.5 meters above the ground. But make sure that the tree branch may not be used by your cat as an access point to the feeder or birdhouse. Keep sufficient distance from branches. You can also install a protection device on the tree trunk to prevent cats from climbing up, but do not use sharp wires and other dangerous things. A plastic collar or an adhesive belt around the tree should be enough. If you have a small or young trees use a net. If you want to install your birdhouse on a fence, make sure to raise it well above the fence or even above trees because cats are perfectly capable of walking on the top of the fence and may jump up on the tree. You may also use windowsills – if you do not want to bother with challenging installation.

Photo: Pixabay

Birds can often correctly predict the cat’s behaviour

Can birds feed comfortably on a tree even when a cat is lurking under it? Yes, of course they can. They even sit on your windowsill and feed when your cat is behind the window. And to a certain extent, birds are capable of defending themselves by making strong sounds and even pecking the cat. If several of them attack, the cat will think twice about fighting back.

Cats hunt for fun too!

That is right. Nowadays cats are well-fed and taken care of. If a cat attacks a bird it may be a simple play and the cat usually will not kill the bird. Most often birds die because they hit a window, pole or other objects, or other hunters kill them. So, it is not necessary to restrict your cats too much. Do not attach any bells or any scary things to cat’s neck! If your cat catches a bird, most likely the bird was not paying attention, and the stronger wins. This is common in nature. Just provide birds with enough food and if they have enough trees and bushes they will be fine.

Photo: Pixabay

Preview photo: Pixabay