Ha... a certain symptom of the madness I think ;) Our fledges sure do eat suet, (got 8 of them buzzin' around here now! what a joy they are!) They eat suet nuggets and the shavings that pile up beneath the suet cages where the woodies and many other birds eat. Missy and Mr.B also feed the fledges nuggets and seemingly teach them to help themselves too: I believe I've seen the parents carry some to the nestlings also. They are soft and moist... easily broken into smaller bites. But every bluebird that's out of the nest usually gulps them down whole. Doesn't seem to have harmed anyone here yet. Kenn :)

Here in Central WI, I have two pairs of Blues on their second nesting, they are both incubating at the moment. One nesting should be hatching by this wednesday and the other about five days later, both have four eggs. Not sure if any would just be starting a second nesting this late now though. The one pair started the second nest within days of fledging the first brood. The other pair waited over two weeks! This is only my fourth year hosting/monitoring Bluebirds and I have always had them bring the babies back and keep eating the mealworms I offered until they left in Oct/November. Not sure if they all stay at the feeders though, I think it greatly depends on where you live if the Blues migrate from your area in the Fall or not. Donna

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.

Thanks so much for posting this. I've been checking it every once in awhile. The adult just flew off and I saw one little "doddly" head pop up! LOL That is a fascinating webcam.