Birdfeeders

When I stop to think about how many birds visit our bird feeders and birdbaths regularly, it really is amazing that predators do not catch more birds in our yard than they do. With all the small hawks as well as cats that are in our area, I would say that I am not aware of even one bird a year killed near our bird feeders. Of course, there could be some killed that we are not aware of, but in all the years I have maintained feeding stations, I have only found telltale feathers on three occasions. Even if a few more birds are caught each year, it is still a very low number and doesn’t even account for sick, aged or crippled birds. This means to me that birds have developed great skill in identifying and avoiding common predators. In general, the heaviest losses occur during the nesting time in the spring when a significant number of nests are robbed by  many predators including other birds. The rest of the year, there appears to be a truse where birds feed near each other, sound warnings for all to hear and generally exist in the same areas. Even though our hanging bird feeders are an attraction for predators, the birds visiting our yard are fully capable of looking out for themselves.