A Bird in the Hand is Worth Two in the Bush

The other morning I woke up to a strange 'chirrup'-ing sound. I hopped up quickly, thinking the cats had dragged a bird in the house and were holding it hostage. I'm pretty familiar with this sound, as, at least once a season, the cats kidnap birds. They rarely get to actual killing, because I will usually intercept them before then.
Well, I walked out into the hall and all the cats were sitting there, looking very innocent. They all meowed and started darting over to the food bowl-- their normal morning ritual.
No bird.
So I figured I must have misheard and it was just one of the finches throwing its voice or something.
You may have already figured out there was indeed a bird in the house. Murdock the dog actually pointed it out to me. A very pretty little Carolina Wren, one of my favorites. She was in the bathroom, cleverly hiding in between the bathroom sink and the wall, where the cats couldn't reach her. I, however, have longer limbs than the cats and make quick work of scooping her up. She seemed fine, if startled, so while the cats were busy breakfasting, I took her out to the porch and opened my hand. She spread her wings and undulated to the neighbor's porch, where she sat, apparently collecting herself.
Well, the next day, I was folding laundry in the living room when I heard a familiar little 'chirrup.' I looked outside and saw the cats huddled under the bird feeders looking very intent. I investigated and found that once again, they had a little Carolina Wren, this time she was just sitting on the ground, looking around at all the cats, as if hypnotized by them. I can't be sure it was the same bird, but I think it was. She didn't seem as startled when I picked her up this time, and struggled hardly at all. Got some nice pictures of her. She was content to just perch on my hand.
I decided that since she was acting awful dazed, and this was possible the second time in as many days that she'd been nabbed by the cats, that if she were going to live, she was going to need some help. So I looked to the wonderful, non-profit, free to the public services of Piedmont Wildlife Center (www.piedmontwildlifecenter.org). They will take in injured wildlife and rehabilitate them when possible, at no cost to the rescuer. They have had some pretty cool cases brought in from all over the state. Check out their website.
They were closed for the day but I found helpful instructions on their site (put the bird in a small cardboard box, no food or water, keep in a quiet, dark place away from other animals) and Adam ended up taking her in for me the next morning. I will check her status this week and let you know.
This makes the second bird in two weeks that cats have attempted to kidnap. The other was a young female cardinal that I caught under the porch with El Sucio. She wasn't as sweet as the wren and tried to take a chunk out of my pinky. Those seed-cracking beaks are strong!!
I'm guessing that this sudden outburst of bird hostages has to do with young birds starting out on their own for the first time. Hopefully this will be the last of the bird captives for awhile...although, with this crew:
...who knows.