Housecats were actually keeping the bird population healthy for decades by eliminating the weak. Of course now that habitat destruction and toxins made entire populations weak it is a problem.
But removing housecats to solve it is akin to drinking out of paper straws to solve plastic pollution. It helps, but it doesn’t do anything substantial.
Outside cat / feral cats have had massive negative impacts on bird and small mammal populations. Particularly in areas where they fill an ecological niche that the wildlife hasn’t adapted to due to none of the local fauna being in that niche. Hawaii and Australia in particular have this problem.
Those are indeed special situations where cats are basically an invasive species.
Here in Europe the correlation between cats and bird population is not so strong. While destruction of habitat and the crash in insect numbers are the big culprits.
Im gonna dig a pit in my backyard and make a pond. Its gonna be a lot of work but it will all be worth it when i sit out on my patio in the morning sipping coffee to the sound croaking frogs, buzzing bugs, and chirping birds.
You will want to be careful doing that. It needs to be big enough to have differential temperature so the water moves, therefore aerating it. Without air in the water nothing but mosquitos can live or breed in it. Also, depending on the soil and whether you are above the water line, you may not be able to keep enough water in it between rainfalls.
I’m sure you can look up how to do one properly, I just want to to be aware it’s not as simple as dig a hole and fill it with water, because that will do more damage than good.
Not just the bees, all bugs in North America have seen a 75% die off in the last 20 years.
Big shocker that songbirds, which eat those bugs, have also seen a massive die off.
Despite those deniers that still blame housecats, the true culprit is almost certainly pollution and pesticides.
House cats are making it worse too
Both things are true
Housecats were actually keeping the bird population healthy for decades by eliminating the weak. Of course now that habitat destruction and toxins made entire populations weak it is a problem.
But removing housecats to solve it is akin to drinking out of paper straws to solve plastic pollution. It helps, but it doesn’t do anything substantial.
Outside cat / feral cats have had massive negative impacts on bird and small mammal populations. Particularly in areas where they fill an ecological niche that the wildlife hasn’t adapted to due to none of the local fauna being in that niche. Hawaii and Australia in particular have this problem.
Those are indeed special situations where cats are basically an invasive species.
Here in Europe the correlation between cats and bird population is not so strong. While destruction of habitat and the crash in insect numbers are the big culprits.
Same in Europe
Both things can be true. They aren’t mutually exclusive.
Also we have less pollution and pesticide use than we did in the 60s and 70s. Why is it just becoming a problem now?
Im gonna dig a pit in my backyard and make a pond. Its gonna be a lot of work but it will all be worth it when i sit out on my patio in the morning sipping coffee to the sound croaking frogs, buzzing bugs, and chirping birds.
You will want to be careful doing that. It needs to be big enough to have differential temperature so the water moves, therefore aerating it. Without air in the water nothing but mosquitos can live or breed in it. Also, depending on the soil and whether you are above the water line, you may not be able to keep enough water in it between rainfalls.
I’m sure you can look up how to do one properly, I just want to to be aware it’s not as simple as dig a hole and fill it with water, because that will do more damage than good.
Of course I’ve been doing a lot of research dont worry. And also I’ll be using a pond liner