Here on the farm in rural Eastern North Carolina, feral and outdoor cats regularly predate ground nesting killdeer, plover, and quail and have also killed or maimed several guinea fowl hens that were sitting on large clutches of eggs. They will also kill the young keets. We now consider them vermin. If they can't be enticed into a humane trap, well, there is always the .22 magnum rifle. No permit is necessary. Outdoor cats have relatively short, unhealthy life spans. Keep them inside. When the coyote move back into the area during the winter, many cats will disappear. Mark Mazer Hertford, NC On Sat, Nov 5, 2016 at 1:00 PM, Garak <garak@code-garak.de> wrote: > Hi Pamela, > > actually i don't understand how ground nesting birds could ever evolve in > central europe (or anywhere outside Australia/Oceania), as there has always > been a dense population of Mustelidae. From what i see, the /visual > /diversity actually increases, as more and more species of birds learn to > live with humans - a trend that started with the common blackbird, which > was a shy forest bird mere 200 years ago. These days, Grey herons are seen > at garden ponds, redstarts are starting to become confiding, which they > weren't 20 years ago... I agree that especially my area in southern Germany > is so densely populated, that modern /realities /must be reevaluated. But > these examples show, birds can actually learn over very few generations, > that humans aren't a threat to them. If we're reducing the level of > pesticides used ( which the current trend for biological agriculture does, > even though the lobbies try to stop that... you know, that evil > M-company...), there's quite a chance for the residential birds to adopt to > noisier environments. And if our friends on both shores of the > Mediterranean stop that annoying habit of hunting creatures that weight > only a few grams (most of it feathers) "for food", many more species will > regenerate. > In a world where everything eats eggs and young birds if they can reach > them - from weasels to hedgehogs, from rats to snakes, from squirrels to > ravens, I don't think cats prove an additional threat to any given bird > species - at max they improve evolution by giving the Darvin award to > specimen not clever enough to chose a good spot for a nest. Through their > ability to fly, birds have a big advantage of not needing coherent habitats > - in contrast to amphibians and many other. > > Greets, > Martin > > > Am 05.11.2016 um 16:54 schrieb Pamela Harlow: > >> Germany's bird population is declining on many fronts, both in absolute >> numbers and the number of species considered unstable. Habitat decline is >> the primary reason, of course, and migratory birds are under pressure >> outside of Germany. Decline is especially pronounced in ground-nesting >> birds. The practices of centuries past, when there were fewer people and >> more undeveloped land, must be reevaluated in terms of modern realities. >> >> On Fri, Nov 4, 2016 at 11:39 PM, Garak <garak@code-garak.de> wrote: >> >> Thanks to all of you for all that valuable information - to sum it up: >>> Offering cat grass and maybe separating Amaryllids and cat until he's a >>> bit >>> older indoors will be enough, there shouldn't be any outdoor problem. I >>> was >>> mostly concerned since I saw how a neighbor's cat "loved" my Actinidia >>> chinensis nearly to death until i fenced it off - so no magic attraction >>> between cat and Hippeastrum&co. >>> >>> As for the slightly off-topic comments: Thanks for the hints with the >>> collar - I'll have a closer look at the cats around, but I think most >>> have >>> a transponder chip for identification these days, so maybe no need for a >>> collar. Neutering was already on the to-do-list - our animal shelters >>> actually insist on doing so when giving away cats. As for keeping the >>> fellow completely indoors: that would need a second cat and make simple >>> things like air circulation in the house difficult - besides, most do not >>> consider pure in-house keeping as species-appropriate. I actually don't >>> fear for the balance of other species - In the rural parts of Germany, >>> cats >>> roaming the fields and gardens are commonplace for centuries. We have a >>> very active bird population, and considering the "gang" of about 50 >>> sparrows that rules the area, we shall see who's fleeing from whom - >>> They're absolutely fearless and won't flee even if you pass the hedge >>> they >>> occupy noisily in one meter distance... >>> The trouble with mis-using gardening materials as latrine is one thing I >>> actually hope to reduce by introducing a resident cat of my own -I've >>> been >>> told they don't do that in their own garden and others start to respect >>> the >>> territory of the resident. Well, that one is at least worth a try ;) >>> >>> -- >>> Martin >>> ---------------------------------------------- >>> Southern Germany >>> Likely zone 7a >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> pbs mailing list >>> pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >>> http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php >>> http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >> pbs mailing list >> pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >> http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php >> http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >> > > > -- > Martin > ---------------------------------------------- > Southern Germany > Likely zone 7a > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >