Feeding birds...and cats

I found this absolutely astonishing when I read it. It is an article about bird feeding. Bird feeding is a purely selfish past time I myself engage in. The beauty of birds brings plain joy to a person's life. However, this article tells us not to feel guilty if congregating songbirds at a feeder are killed by a feeder-cruising hawk...but woe for the evil feral cat!

Hawks: Where songbirds congregate, so will bird-eating raptors. As painful as it can be to see, remember, it’s part of a bigger plan and it’s not your fault. Your feeder only brought this aspect of nature into plain view.

Feral or house cats: They are another story altogether. A 1996 study by University of Wisconsin Professor Stanley Temple found that free-ranging rural cats in Wisconsin were probably killing tens of millions of birds each year. Your tabby or your neighbor’s is no different, and they don’t need to eat birds to survive. Keep them indoors where they are safer, healthier and away from feeders.

"They are another story altogether." Really? How is that? This sounds much like the misguided anger we exhibit when we pound on our windows to chase away the squirrels, blue jays, grackles, and pigeons that dare to pause and eat the food we had put out hoping to draw only small and colorful birds. Our speciesism is often appalling.

The truth is, if we didn't put feeders out for cardinals and chickadees, those beautiful songbirds (who tend to stay close to trees and brush) likely would not get nailed by backyard hawks. The hawks would probably be scooping up abundant birds that tend to fly in areas of less cover (doves, non-native starlings, non-native house sparrows, etc.).

Feeding wildlife, including birds, simply so we can view them more easily, is utterly selfish. We should accept this. By exposing them to large windows, putting them in proximity to predators, both native and non-native, and to each other so that disease is more easily spread, we put songbirds at risk.

That we demonize a semi-rational animal (the cat) because it takes advantage of a habit that we PURPOSELY exercise (spending millions of dollars on each year in food, feeders, binoculars, etc.) just so we can watch birds out our front window (only the pretty ones, thank you!) says a lot about how we like to place blame in our society.

If a bird gets killed at my feeder, whether by hawk, cat, window, or disease, it's my fault, thank you very much. I'd save more birds if I stopped feeding them. And yet I do feed them. My pleasure in seeing them is entirely personal, and I put out food knowing that I'm also teaching the local raccoons and bears bad habits...that might result in them getting killed down the line, too.

But let's blame it all on the cats.