Birds saved by the bell

["Geoffrey Dabb" <>]

Dear me.  A somewhat Bauhaus or Schwarzeneggeresque approach, if I may say. 

 

In the late 1940s cartoon voiced by Mel Blanc the Puddy Tat, later aka Sylvester, grinning devilishly, advances on Tweety Pie on two stealthy feet, clutching its bell tightly in one paw.   Nothing new under the sun, I’m afraid.

 

One of the disadvantages of bells is that many cat-bellers are convinced their free-roaming cat has been rendered totally harmless vis-a-vis birdlife.

 

From: David Cook [
Sent: Friday, 15 October 2010 4:01 PM
To:
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Birds saved by the bell

 

2 bells is better (particularly if each weighs a couple of kilos).

 

From:

Sent: Friday, October 15, 2010 3:52 PM

To:

Cc:

Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Birds saved by the bell

 

Yes- the original paper notes:

"It has been suggested that cats may adjust their hunting behaviour when wearing a belled collar and can still hunt
efficiently (Nelson et al. 2005). This did not occur in the short term (Ruxton et al. 2002) or during a 5-month period (Nelson
et al. 2005). Nevertheless, the 6 weeks during which cats wore the belled collars in the present study may not have been long enough
to detect this change in behaviour if it was going to occur. It would be worthwhile testing the effect of a bell over a longer period and
also in spring and summer, when there are more juvenile birds, and lizards are more active."

Robin


On 15/10/2010 3:22 PM, wrote:

What if the cat has worn a bell since it was a kitten?

We lived in Gawler in the 90s and had a house built on totally cleared land in a cul-de-sac in a cluster of five houses all built around the same time as ours. We planted a well mulched native garden and within a couple of years we had lots of native birds (mainly New Holland Honeyeaters) actively feeding throughout the year.

The other four houses put in lawns and the odd (exotic) tree and they all had cats. The cats, naturally enough, found our yard far more interesting than their own and spent most of their time there. Only one of them had a bell, which it had from the day it was brought home as a kitten. That cat became by far the most successful hunter. It had more patience and stealth than the others and the bell was never heard until a split second before it captured a bird.

Maybe it was born a better hunter anyway, but I have always wondered whether having the bell from an early age had, in the long term, helped rather than hindered its development as a recreational hunter.

Regards,
Leo.