[the_third_wave]

In all its 13 years (and counting) our cat has taken maybe 5 birds, this includes the swallow he noticed flying by at ~1.5 meters height upon which he jumped straight up in the air and caught it. Sad for the swallow but it was quite a feat of cat-dexterity. Anyway, he doesn't catch birds since there are more than enough voles, mice, rats, squirrels and weasels - no idea why he catches those but he's done so several times - around to keep him satisfied. He eats nearly everything he catches but tends to leave the weasels mostly uneaten. He also does not like squirrel tails which became clear when I cleaned up under the stairs where I found 5 of them.

Maybe I should add I live on a farm? If it were not for the cat we'd have to take care of the vermin he dispatches in some other way so hooray for the cat.

[tapland]

Very few of the catches are usually known to the owner.

It’s tricky to study since you pretty much need to introduce cats to areas with stable bird populations. We’ve had birds relocate and start new nests elsewhere because they see cats around though, and even magpies are extremely reluctant to eat food put out for them near the yard where the cats sometimes hang out.

[peoplefromibiza]

> In all its 13 years (and counting) our cat has taken maybe 5 birds

reminder: what you see is not what you get.

cats kill between 1.4 billion and 3.7 billion birds a year, study says. Outdoor cats are the leading cause of death among both birds and mammals in the United States, according to a new study, killing 1.4 billion to 3.7 billion birds each year. The mammalian toll is even higher, concluded researchers from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, ranging from 6.9 billion to 20.7 billion annually.

[samatman]

Remember, every time you see statistics like this, that the cats aren't fungible!

America has a large feral cat population, which lives on birds and mice, not cat food.

Your numbers aren't at all inconsistent with OPs.

[peoplefromibiza]

reminder: cats are predators.

The study found each feral cat kills an average 576 native birds, mammals and reptiles per year, while pet cats kill an average of 110 native animals every year – 40 reptiles, 38 birds and 32 mammals.

In Australia 3.7 million domestic cats kill 230 million native birds every year.

OP numbers are in the realm of not being plausible, unless the cat lives in a cage.

As a cat owner I could believe in 5 in a year, or one every 2-3 months, that's possible, low but possible. I can't honestly believe in 5 in 13 years, for a normal, non disabled cat.

Numbers I gave you are consistent with the 100 million cats that live in USA (15-30 birds killed by each cat every year on average)

[nibbleshifter]

The posters cat likely spends much more of its time on mammals as targets than on birds (the post does imply it takes a large harvest of vermin mammals).

Other cats may largely target birds.

[specialist]

As a bird lover, I'm a big fan of coyotes.

[the_third_wave]

Are you sure?

https://wildexplained.com/do-coyotes-eat-birds/

[specialist]

How many birds do you estimate coyotes eat?

I estimate 83k coyotes in north american urban areas. (Extrapolating from 2014 estimate that 2,000 coyotes lived in the greater Chicago metropolitan area.)

Cats are 20-40% of urban coyote diets. Wild ass guess that a 40lb coyote needs to eat about 5lbs per week (based on recommended food allowance for captive coyote). For yearly total of 260lbs. Average cat weighs 10lbs? So each coyote eats 5.2 - 10.4 cats per year.

So let's say coyotes eat 83k * 5.2 = 431,600 cats per year.

A comment above says a domestic cat eats ~38 birds per year.

So urban coyotes save 16,400,800 birds per year.

(Too little is known about wild coyotes and cats for me to even guesstimate.)

So, to answer your question, I'm sure.