darn pretty lil bird came back

[addy1]

Well

We were gone all afternoon, come back and lil green heron is trying to hunt in the pond. It flew the second we came back by the recordings it had just flown in

Advance to this am, 530 am, there it is at the pond trying to hunt. Walking the net. That wide weave high over the pond net WORKS!


We have to leave when we get back I will see if I got some neat video of it attempting to hunt.

 

[Priscilla]

Welcome to my life! Hope yours isn't a smart and daring as mine. Looking forward to hearing your stories later.

 

[sissy]

seems he knows his hunting ground .I have see 1 fly over this year and only way I knew was because of the really long body

 

[j.w]

Will be neat to see some video's of it if you can catch him on it.

 

[addy1]

It was too dark to get real good video besides this one. It kept walking the net trying to get to those yummy fish seen below.

Sissy the great blue heron has been flying over every morning and night. We are right in their flight path. I have only seen one green heron a few years back.

 

[sissy]

I watch and just say keep flying keep flying .

 

[Priscilla]

Be interesting to see if he comes back.

Just refresh my memory, you have your net about three feet up and how are the sides secured? Is the net just hanging down around the edges?

 

[brokensword]

I think that's an American Bittern (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_bittern), Addy; the Green Heron (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_heron) is a bit different. Though, both represent trouble. Seems you've made snack time impossible so good for you!

Michael

 

[RobAmy]

I think that's an American Bittern (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_bittern), Addy; the Green Heron (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_heron) is a bit different. Though, both represent trouble. Seems you've made snack time impossible so good for you!

Michael

It is not a bittern, it is a green heron. Here is one I took that has similar neck markings

Gotcha by Rob & Amy Lavoie, on Flickr

 

[addy1]

Michael when it first turned up 2-3 yrs ago, (one visit) I too thought it was a bittern, but in looking at the markings I went with green heron.

It did not come back today, the small ponds have a few random fish in them (hard to see because of the plants) it did not try for them. The lotus tank has rosey reds in it, then hide near the bottom.

Be interesting to see if he comes back.

Just refresh my memory, you have your net about three feet up and how are the sides secured? Is the net just hanging down around the edges?

The net currently is around 3 feet up, some places just two feet up. I do have it hanging loosely down, the bird does not seem to know it can push it aside. The bog is so full of plants it would need to work to get to the edge of the pond. I did drop the net a little lower at the bog edge, once this lil bird showed up.

The big pond is 5 feet deep, the fish seem to hang out down in that area more than the walk out area. The stock tank is 2.5 feet deep, with that tank I have the net hanging low around all the sides, there too I have a ton of lilies, lots of coverage. The stock tank the net is around 1.5 feet up. The netting interferes real nicely with their ability to strike at a fish.

The poor bird was doing its best to get to the fish.
Here is a view of the net as of this am, the rope keeps the shape. It is a fishing boat gill net. 4 or 5 inch openings.

 

[j.w]

I think and hope he will get frustrated and not be able to get under your net. Think they don't like pushing a net away to get in. Lets hope it doesn't learn that trick anyway!

 

[addy1]

No return today, Maybe it already figured out it was hopeless.

 

[j.w]

Yep he got so hungry looking at your fish,got frustrated and hopefully will forget about your pond. Net works so good!

 

[pugle1]

It's a shame that they're such a pest. They're beautiful to watch, but too, it's a shame some of us have to go to such drastic measures to protect our ponds. We have a lot of blue herons around here. Thankfully none have come to visit us yet. My pond so far has no netting for protection. I hope I never need to resort to that. Hopefully that one takes the hint addy

 

[addy1]

I would let them snack, if they just snacked. The gbh that came a few years back came every day (before the net) Stabbing for fish, luckily my liner was tough enough to handle those stabs.
They don't stop, once they find a good source of food, they visit constantly, at least here they do. And it does not help we are in their flight path. One even landed in January, snow on the ground.