Frank Miles wrote:
Snuffy wrote:

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.

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.

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.
http://audubonportland.org/wcc/urban/windows
http://www.duncraft.com/Window-Strik...ird%20Deca ls
http://www.critterguard.org/index.ph...rotection.html