If a cat is outside and used to hunting, they are good hunters, I've never seen a farmcat that couldn't catch mice. Frankly, if there are mice and squirrels around, cats rarely bother with birds. If you let a housecat outside, it'll be a terrible hunter.

It's almost like practice makes perfect.

I once took over my neighbour's cat. He was very scared and timid. Stayed behind the fridge for the first weekend. Took half a year before he was comfortable enough to be petted. Never wanted to go outside. Didn't even want to go into the stairwell of our building. Until some day it did. I was really proud of his newfound courage. But it was very eager, so I followed it. It went upstairs to the common attic, where I saw a very scared looking pigeon sitting on a box surrounded by way too many feathers.

From that moment on I kept him inside again. Apparently even that super timid scared cat will kill breeding pigeons.

Oh til, thanks

My parents at would do the same with chipmunks.

That cat would also growl at kids waking home from school while sitting inside near the window.

they are not apex predators.

cats are prey for larger animals and are often killed my racoons and other stronger animals.

Not sure house cats count as apex predators because they are also prey animals. A tiger is an apex predator because what eats tigers? But there's stuff that'll eat house cats.

Nevertheless house cats are extremely effective at hunting small prey. I had a maine coon that drove my city block's vole population extinct for a good ten years. Big dude either loved digging or hated voles.

I had a cat one time that liked to play fetch. Just like a dog. Never seen anything like it.

I had a cat like that :)

Colorpoint shorthairs (the ones that look like regular cats, not necessarily the over-bread siamese) are known for that sort of behavior. Mine was a cream colorpoint, and basically looked solid white, but “catdog” is how that breed is normally described, because they tend to be wildly friendly and play fetch.