You need to figure out how to put a safety net under that bird house. Maybe, it is time to catch the outdoor cat, and give it away?

Moni

A sensitive and loud bell on her collar? I feel for you--this is the reason I don't feed the birds anymore. :(

Can you move the bird house higher out of the cats range?

I'd try moving the bird house, too.

I like the idea of a bell on the collar. Good luck, I hate to see the little birdies in danger, but that's nature. Thanks for spaying!

law of nature...the bell is a good idea..just make sure it's not too loose, where she might get caught...

I agree that it's time for the porch cat to go. If she is stressing out your pet cats, forcing you to put cardboard on your windows, killing the wildlife and taking over the porch furniture, it doesn't sound as if she is giving you much companionship or pleasure.

A bell isn't going to help the baby birds if they can't escape. Maybe a net or box where they can be safe from the cat would work. When mine left the nest, they just kind of tumbled out and were on the ground behind bushes for a day.

I, too, think it would be kinder all the way around, if you found this cat a home where SHE would be happier, and where other creatures (including you) wouldn't be stressed by her. Any farms in your area where she might enjoy living out the rest of her days?

This is nature. Wild creatures (generally) have more than one offspring in the hopes that at least one makes it to adulthood.

If you give your cat away, another predator will be waiting in the wings (no pun intended) to pounce on the baby birds.

Thanks, everyone. I'll look into the bell and the possibility of moving the birdhouse--perhaps gradually.

I've been involved with animal welfare for a long time, and am familiar with the cat situation in this area. Giving Bonzi away isn't an option. She came to me, and is my responsibility. I could probably find a farmer who would be happy to open his barn to a spayed mouse hunter, but he wouldn't worm her regularly, or take her to the vet if she were sick. Plus I can't see such a territorial cat doing well in a new environment already populated by other cats.

I've probably presented Bonzi as a total PITA, but she has some appealing qualities. She's quite devoted to me, my son, and my daughter-in-law. She does bite us regularly, but we're convinced she does it out of love. ;-)

As for other predators taking her place should she go, as far as I know all the wren babies over the past three decades have been raised successfully. Once they were on their own, I have no idea what happened to them. But the fact that successive generations keep coming back to the same spot is telling, I think.

Alisande,

I just have to say this: you have no problem with the cat killing mice - and presumably baby mice. Right?

Birds, mice, squirrels, rabbits... They're all food sources for those higher up the food chain. As I said before, it's nature. And nature is cruel. :(

A bell is not going to work with a fledgling, they can't fly well enough even if they know the danger. You can say goodbye to the young birds. Trapping the cat and keeping it penned up until the young are gone would help. Next year I would discourage the birds from building there.

I know, it doesn't make sense from a strictly logical perspective. But I have an emotional connection with these birds. I haven't been in the position of watching mama and papa mouse feeding the babies for weeks.

I can't say I have no problem with mouse killing. I can accept clean kills, but it's the suffering that bothers me. Cats often play with their prey--even when the prey is terribly wounded and incapacitated, the cat will toss it about. I have a big problem with that. Yes, I know it's nature, but my nature motivates me to attempt a rescue if the animal is still in good shape, or put an end to its suffering if it is beyond saving. I've done this many times.

I've dealt with the same issue.. but don't even have an outside cat. It is my neighbor's cat. They do take good care of the cat and they keep a bell on his collar.. and they are excellent neighbor's otherwise. I only hope that at least half of the Wren fledglings (that were in my wren house) lived. Something else (a hawk or Jay) has been killing and taking newborn birds from nests as well.. I feel very helpless, but I know this is nature's way.

Alisande, you're my hero.

I always worry about the house wrens who build a nest in my eaves trough just below the peak over my front door. They are fine when it doesn't rain but I often wonder about the eggs or babies when it does rain. They come back year after year despite the danger. I am sure momma wren will give that cat a few good swoops when her babies try to leave the next. They know the dangers that await.

Amme

Yesterday I saw two barn swallows chase Bonzi clear across the road. She must have gotten too close to their nesting area over at the barn. She was afraid of them--she dove under my son's pickup truck. It warmed my heart. :-)

hahaha prety bad when I can't spell my own name

My old cat always used to get nitted at and chased by cardinals. They and stood their ground against the cats around here. A few times Beau would come in with a few pieces of fun missing from the top of his head.

I better stop typing haha

Actually, I thought it was cute....meaning the birds had fun removing bits of fur. (Aha...the things that amuse on Monday mornings!)

Mocking birds used to swoop on my cat . He was my first cat and the only one who was allowed outside of 14 others who were/are always kept inside.

Susan, I realize you can't do that with this cat. Could you put a net under the wren box so when the fledglings drop out they won't be on the ground and high enough that that cat has no access?.