Protecting Hummingbird Chicks

[Snuffy "Hub Cap" McKinney]

Got 2 of the little nuggets poking their heads out of a next. I notice a wandering housecat under the tree today. I'm trying to watch and keep running it off as much as I can.

Question.... the nest is on a thin branch that won't hold the cat's weight and is out of it's reach. If they fly off, all is good. But I don't know anything about hummingbirds.... Anything I can do to keep the cat away in case the land on the ground? I thought about red pepper, but that might not be good for the birds.

Any advice appreciated. Will upload a photo of the birds in the nest to tinypic later tonight.

[David E. Ross]

Do not worry about the hummingbird chicks. Hummingbird parents can be extremely viscious in defending their nests and young. I have seen hummingbirds attack ravens that merely happened to be near the nest but were not bothering it.

[Frank Miles]

Do you know who owns the cat? Maybe if you explained what was happening?

Cats are one of the dominant killers of birds in this country - you're right to be concerned.

[Brooklyn1]

Actually the dominant killers of birds are primarily windows, then windmills, airplanes, and high tension wires... cats kill relatively few birds, and mostly for food. Very often when your cat drops a bird at your doorstep it was a bird that slammed into your window that your cat put out of its misery. If you don't make your windows safe for birds you have no right to complain about cats. I feed birds including humming birds, I also care for feral cats. I've never seen a cat go after hummers, hummers rarely if ever perch on the ground, hummers are extremely alert of their surroundings, their little heads are always bobbing about being watchful when at their feeders. Cats don't even notice hummers not anymore than they notice wasps and bees. If you care about birds hang CDs and sparkly ribbons in your windows, never place plants in your windows, and place outlines of raptors in your windows.

[Frank Miles]

20Decals

Windows are pretty bad. But cats are the next leading killer. See:

Windmills are down in the noise, unless you want to include high-tension power lines in the mix.

[Snuffy "Hub Cap" McKinney]

I'm only talking about newborn birds in the nest or on the ground.

[Snuffy "Hub Cap" McKinney]

"Snuffy "Hub Cap" McKinney" wrote in message news:- [e-mail]... Got 2 of the little nuggets poking their heads out of a next. I notice a wandering housecat under the tree today. I'm trying to watch and keep running it off as much as I can.

Question.... the nest is on a thin branch that won't hold the cat's weight and is out of it's reach. If they fly off, all is good. But I don't know anything about hummingbirds.... Anything I can do to keep the cat away in case the land on the ground? I thought about red pepper, but that might not be good for the birds.

Any advice appreciated. Will upload a photo of the birds in the nest to tinypic later tonight.

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Well, the cat worrying is over. Last night they were in the next as usual. This morning mama and the 2 chicks were no were to be seen. No feathers in the yard so that's a good sign.

[David E. Ross]

By the way, they were in a NEST, not a next. At first, I thought that were merely a typo; but when you repeated it, I realized a correction was needed.

[Brooklyn1]

Truly the blind leading the blind! LOL

[g8dgc]

Yer momma gimme good head little feller. LOL