Wild backyard birds today face many challenges to their survival. Destruction of natural habitat ranks as one of the major barriers that stand in the way of bird species survival. But another challenge to their survival is from that furry creature that sleeps at the foot of your bed.

Domestic Cats have been living in close association with humans for at least the past 3,500 years so not much is known about their 'natural state'. Their most immediate ancestor (prior to them becoming domesticated) is believed to be the African wild cat, Felis silvestris lybica. But domestic cats only arrived in North America within the past 400 years along with the European settlers. Therefore, they are a relatively new and extremely abundant predator for wild birds. In this respect, the house cat is an 'unnatural predator'.

House cats instinctively hunt small wildlife such as birds and rodents, but they are not adapted to life in the wild in the same way as the true larger wild cats like the bobcat and the puma. Outdoor domestic cats usually live around human populations and require either direct or indirect support by humans to survive. Therefore, they are quite different from native 'natural' predators.

There are a host of reasons to keep your pet cat indoors (many are to protect the cat from its predators and from feline diseases). The point of this article is that keeping your cat indoors will help protect your backyard bird populations. While many birds killed by cats are common varieties, some are quite rare and of course your pet cat won't know the difference.