If you have spent any time outdoors recently, you may have noticed the flurry of activity among the birds in your yard. They have been busy collecting pine straw, twigs, leaves - all the materials to build their nests. Some are already built, and mama birds are spending their days waiting for their young to hatch – or feeding their babies and getting them ready to leave the nest.
At our house, we like to feed the birds and watch the activity in our yard. This weekend, we found a nest a mama bird had made on top of a porch ceiling fan; the babies had hatched and we enjoyed seeing them actually leave the nest and fly! That was such a pleasant time for us; what could possibly be wrong?
Well, dogs and cats – that’s what! Cats especially pose a threat to both the nesting mothers and to the young baby birds when they hatch, because a cat may be able to climb right up to where the birds are (especially if it is in a tree). Although dogs usually cannot climb trees, they may disturb the nesting mother, to the point where she might feel threatened enough to abandon the nest, and her babies.
In addition to the threat that cats and dogs may pose to the wild birds, pets may find that these birds could present a danger to them. In an attempt to defend their nests and their young, birds have been known to attack dogs and cats, often going for the most vulnerable targets – the pets’ eyes. I remember our cat being immobilized in our yard by an irate Mockingbird who was making threatening dives at the cat. I actually had to go out and rescue my feline friend from the bird!
If you have wild birds in your yard, consider keeping your dog or cat indoors as much as possible for the next few weeks, to protect the birds, and to protect your furry friend – always worth the effort, when you’re speaking of pets.
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