If the whole bird was there, I might think that. But it was just the head.

And the star hunter, the mama cat, just came in and looked all over the house, so I'm guessing she wants it back. Maybe she was just saving it for later, or maybe it was for her "kittens". Those "kittens" are now two years old, but she still seems to think she has to take care of them. The rubbing up against my legs is kind of annoying.

the outer edge of their lawn.

One day, she was carrying a laundry basket of sheets to hang on the clothesline, took one step and rolled down the steps. Her puppy had been hunting in the cornfield and brought her a gift of field mice and laid them in front of the door. Needless to say, she had more than a few bruises.

Since I feed the birds, I have some fly into my windows or sliding glass doors almost daily and are either stunned from the collision or die. A neighborhood cat comes by each day and checks to see if there are any casualties.

I hung a couple of those whirly things from the eave in front of my patio doors and haven't had any birds fly into them in a couple of years.

Actually, I kind of feel like there are a lot fewer birds around. so that might be a factor too.

?

Yeah, I guess that's what we humans are to them.

Better put Johnny Fontane in the picture.

I think I better keep my guard up.

leave a dead mouse in my sneaker. It is tribute for you. "Just doing my job, Mom"
I also once found a mouse head in my driveway.... could not help but think of The Godfather. LOL

I kept thinking hey, at least you didn't find it in your bed!
🤣🤣🤣

I've explained to her that I'm a vegetarian, but just like my ex-husband, she doesn't get it.

But you probably wouldn't have a cat who was capable of doing that.

I'd be afraid to go to sleep.

Cats are major predators of birds, which is one reason their numbers are dwindling.

And this is nesting season, a lot of mama birds getting food for babies, so if mama is killed, babies die too.

I'm sure some cats do just fine with collars, and I know about breakaway collars, but I don't feel comfortable putting a collar on the mama cat because I'm still afraid she'll get hung up on a fence somewhere. (Maybe it's the memory of seeing a neighbor's dog hanging from their fence a lot of years ago. She was a aggressive pit bull, and I was scared to death to have to go into their back yard and help get her down. She survived, and didn't bite me.) Her "kittens" are two years old, and are not touchable because she kept them hidden for two months. I had to trap them to get them spayed/neutered. I tried in vain for several months to tame them, and now we just sort of have an understanding. They hang out around me because they feel confident that I'm not going to try to touch them. I'd have to sedate them to put a collar on them, so that's not happening.

I've been reading contrasting views on the effects of cats on the bird population. The thing is, cats are natural predators, and birds are their prey, along with some creatures I'd rather not have around. It's not an endearing feature of cats that they hunt birds, but it's a reality. Honestly, it's one of the reasons that I really didn't want to once again be a cat owner. I didn't choose it. It chose me.

My neighbor has told me numerous times that she's happy to have this cat family in the neighborhood because it takes care of the mouse population. I'm pretty sure that the mama cat had hidden the kittens in her yard, and they still hang out there a lot of the time entertaining my neighbor with their antics. They're all fixed, so we don't have to worry about increasing the cat population, and the one male doesn't spray. Apparently getting him neutered before he matured was a big benefit in that respect.

He would leave them lined up in a neat row on the foot of my bed. Just the heads.

When I would get home from work, he would greet me at the door and lead me to his gifts.

Then he would strut around, tail straight in the air, making purring mewls, rubbing against my legs.

He was so proud of his trophies.