Big Blue Heron visits pond

[Bigwake]

Well, today we warmed up in Texas from the cold. My pond went from 44 to 51 degrees with the air temp in the upper 70's. I was glad to see my fish swimming around and visiting the top again. Then when I came home and fliped on the outdoor lights I see a Heron standing on my skimmer box and the box is wet. The bird took off and I grabbed my flashlight to see if they are all gone. I can only see my smaller 3 koi at the bottom. My larger, friendlier 2 koi are MIA. I am so pissed right now.:twisted: I had most of the pond covered with a leaf guard too. I was really surprised that this would happen in the end of December. I see these birds all the time during the Summer but not now... or so I thought. I will keep you posted if they show up in the morning. Maybe they are just hidding after having the s#!t scared out of them.

 

[j.w]

Oh he will be back if he got a taste of your fish. Better take more measures to keep him out. You can string fish line back and forth across the top and around the sides. They don't like getting tangled in the stuff and it's a pretty easy fix for right now anyways :twisted:

 

[addy1]

Darn good luck, hope they are just hiding

 

[DrCase]

You did have half the pond covered maybe the fish used it to get out of the way .

 

[Bigwake]

There is no sign of them this morning. Now I'm off to the pond depot to buy a net that covers the entire pond. Of course the kids want some new fish too!!

 

[koiguy1969]

they tend to come in the early morning hours, at or just before sunup. when things are quiet...had that problem myself...after a couple of times getting shot with a bb gun, it or they stopped coming...they associate my yard with pain now not a good meal. shot them in june, havent been in my yard since. still see atteast one in the area on a regular basis just not here. just a thought!

 

[Bigwake]

Thanks everyone! I bought a leaf net that covers the entire pond. This should be enough right? In the Summer I have a those big shade sails that go above the pond. I would think this would help hide the pond from the birds view and decrease any attempt at the fish. I think I will continue with the netting year round. By the way, on a visit to Sea World in San Antonio I watched a Heron feeding on Koi in a pond that was filled with turtles and alligators. There was no fear from the alligators so I would never buy the plastic alligators to keep away birds.

I did find several scales on the ground to confirm the bird did in fact eat my koi.

 

[DrDave]

Are you in a rural area or in the city?

 

[j.w]

Hopefully your leaf net is raised up above the water level in the pond otherwise those birds will just stab right through the holes and they may not be able to drag the fish out but they will still hurt or kill them w/ their beaks :regular_waving_emot

 

[sissy]

I'm glad I don't have that problem but was wondering if the wild geese will do the same thing .

 

[wvairman]

Here in South Georgia I have problems with egrets although a large owl grabbed my shusui last September.

 

[sissy]

oh don't think I would like that we have barn owls here and now wondering if they could be a threat to my pond .I have never seen an egret here .owls hmmm now I wonder if I should be taking precautions against owls .Have to find out what scares them away .We have barn owls here ,never thought about them being a threat

 

[wvairman]

The owl was more aggressive than the egrets. I have flood lights around the pond so I can sit outside at night and watch my fish swim. The owl came back, I scared it off but it sat on my 18' flagpole staring, waiting for me to leave.

 

[oldmarine]

I have something that works for me, but it all depends on your situation and application. We have had problems with raccons that happened to find that one spot that they could shimmy over at our six foot vynal fence between the front, and back yard where the pond is. The racoons that we have here seem to have a regular trap line that they venture most every night. I purchased two driveway sensors and used self stick velcro I installed the motion sensors at two strategic locations where I knew the racoons were coming into the front yard and headed for the back fence. The two alarms are in the house where we can hear them, one alarm I put at a partially opened window on the front porch so the racoons could hear it go off from outside in the yard.

The great part is through some conditioning on my part. Every time the the coon alarm went off an old leatherneck (me) screaming with a baseball bat in hand, and an insane minature poodle named Mr. Button's would come charging out into the yard in the attach mode. After dozen or so of those alarm responses the coon's have figured out that the Kruger yard is one to avoid altogether. Now it is rare for the alarm to go off, but we still run out to chase off whatever is in our yard. This sensor / alarm method could work for those birds of prey that love our pond fish so much.

Just as a heads up, racoon's can't climb six foot high vynal fenses if they are installed correctly.

 

[sissy]

oh my god how funny I can just imagine the raccoons reaction to that .I do not have raccoons yet but will remember that and heads up raccoons will dig under fences.My son gets raccoons and they fill holes under the fence all the time from them and now as I speak he dug down all around the outside of the fence over 2 ft. and is putting in wire mesh and back filling the holes with cement and electric fence for them