Wild birds are such an integral part of our lives that we take for granted the robins and thrushes singing their evening songs, the juncos and sparrows visiting our bird feeders, and the colourful warblers that arrive in the spring to breed after wintering in the sub-tropics. Bird populations, along with almost all wildlife, are threatened worldwide by a host of environmental pressures: too many people, loss of habitat, degraded habitat, climate change, pesticides, glass collisions, etc, etc.
Another worldwide threat to native birdlife is the domestic cat. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature states that ‘’one of the world’s worst non-native invasive species” is the domestic cat. There are well-documented estimates for the number of wild birds killed by cats. An Environment Canada report put that number at 200 million a year for Canada, and an American report estimated over two billion a year for North America. Remember that this is just one of a host of threats that birds face. Anecdotally, I would say that glass collisions are a major concern on the Sunshine Coast. A major component of bird mortality by cats is committed by stray and feral cats.
What to do about this situation? One place to start would be keeping this non-native, invasive species, inside houses, rather than letting them roam. Again, there is lots of data on the fact that house cats live a lot longer than those free roaming, as they do not suffer from wildlife encounters, disease, roadkill, etc. Another negative of free-roaming cats is the aggravation suffered by neighbours as they watch a cat sitting beneath their bird feeder or defecating on their property.
There is a litany of good reasons to confine cats indoors, but politicians have generally been derelict in their duty as the carnage continues. There has been an upsurge of attention to the problem in the last couple of weeks as Nanaimo has proposed an ‘’animal responsibility bylaw” that would restrict free-roaming cats on someone else’s private property, and requirements for cat identification and spaying and neutering. Gibsons council is making promising noises about control, and Cornelia van Berkel is continuing her long-running campaign for local action. This is a huge topic and much information is available online (Google “cats and birds”).
Another local threat to our birds is salmonella poisoning among the many pine siskins attending bird feeders right now. Outbreaks have been reported locally. The best advice is to remove your bird feeder temporarily until this plays out.
To report your sightings or questions contact [email protected] or 604-885-5539. Good Birding.
