As I wrote in my post, my reference was to domestic cats, not to feral or barn cats who live their lives without being fed or receiving immunizations, deworming, external parasite prevention, and other routine veterinary care. I have precise first hand knowledge of what species my cats have killed over the past 40+ years and a good idea of how many of each because they bring their quarry home to my front porch and, being well fed, only occasionally do they eat one of their game animals. I could probably count on my fingers the number of birds my cats have killed over the past decades, and among these were a few English sparrows. I would say that on average 6 to 11 baby barn swallows have fledged from nests on our front porch and eaves of the barn each year, despite the presence of our cat(s.) The parent bird who fell victim this year is the only swallow killed by one of our cats ever, so I'd say that the survival rate is highly stacked in favor of the swallows. (Seven on average x 40 some years is a large sum of swallows that have come into being on my felines' terrain.) Toxoplasma gondii only poses a threat to developing fetuses and those with severely compromised immune systems. It is important that pregnant women avoid contact with litter boxes. Other than this caution, the risks posted on the inflammatory website you posted are highly exaggerated. As I also stated, this is a moot point since my current kitty has only perhaps another year of going outdoors and I do not intend to replace her when she is gone. We will have to agree to disagree on this point.

This has been a very strange nesting year. Normally, we have both bluebirds and tree swallows occupying a single house most of the season. This year, they have come and gone and have been replaced w/other tenants. If they are like my tree swallows, they are not bothered at all by human activity. I even inspect their nests occasionally, and it doesn't seem to bother them. In fact, owners of martin houses are encouraged to frequently inspect the hatchlings for mites and other issues. Additionally, I've have many encounters w/barn swallows while fishing under bridges. They could care less about my presence. Right now, I've got a Carolina wren who took over my bat house. The bat house blew down in a storm, breaking off part of the top. I put it on its side on a table next to a big woodpile to fix, but that wren decided to nest in it before I could get the roof back on. He also is not too concerned w/my proximity. I'll wait until its done, I guess. Regardless of the strange year, I must say it has been a very successful nesting year, judging by all the juveniles. I don't ever recall seeing so many.

For the 5 th year in row we have let a family's of barn swallows nest on our back porch. They just build right on top of a decorative bird house I had . We cover the patio furniture with a blanket & love them all. We may not be able to sit out on our deck but the birds got used to us . They have the protection of the porch & no other birds will come near the nest . .Well this year one lone female started building again & for over a month tried to get a mate to come near here I don't think this is one of the swallows from before. A lot of strange things have happened . One day while I was outside one of the birds knocked an egg out of the nest. Is this unusual ??.We know some baby's where born as we watched the parents coming & going to feed them . We went away for 3 weeks. NOW MY QUESTION One lone bird is still sitting on the nest I think its a baby I have not been able to get a photo of this one. DOES ANYONE KNOW IF BABYS STAY AFTER PARENTS LEAVE?? When do they fly south ?I have never seen this happen before THANK YOU

petra you are lucky to have them so long mine left in Aug! We have a nest on our porch that was here when we moved in last yr. So we had them 2 yrs so far. I have the sweetest pic with five of them with all their mouths open to be fed. I took 108 pics before I got that one! I sure hope they come back next yr. Our robins are still here too.