HE'S BACK!

[addy1]

Darn darn darn............not the work I want to use!

The heron is back, it did a fly by early this am, circled the pond at 7:11 then came back and landed. I was out on my 4 mile walk, hubby saw it coming in, grabbed our 22 loaded with buckshot just to scare it, but as soon as it saw him it flew.

He came and found me on my walk, on his way to work and let me know, so I headed home, as I walked up the the window it took off. It usually does not come back as quick when scared.

Those that made a nice plant island, Heads up! the heron landed in the bog, walked over to the chicken wire fence, hopped / flew over it and landed on the island. One inch pvc sheet, held it up just fine. It spent a lot of time staring at the alligator head, luckily the head scared the heron, the fish like that area near the island.

It turned to walk to the other end of the island when I got back from my walk and spooked it.

of course the sucker returns right before we leave town for two weeks................ but at least I have time to put back all my anti heron stuff before we take off. This is the first visit this summer.

 

[sissy]

Wow is that the island in the middle of your pond .He sure is intent on his looking

 

[addy1]

Yep it is sissy, I was not going to make one, but the fish like the island, they nibble on roots and hang out under it all of the time. The plants on it are all bog plants growing like weeks lol. I am debating pulling it. Or at least running fencing over the top of the pond and island, until we get back. I have 3 days to protect the pond lol. Darn heron, at least it showed up before we left. The fencing will need to be high enough over the island to make it so the heron can't land on the fencing and just have it sink onto the island.

 

[addy1]

I forgot about this view, shows the sucker landing in the bog walking up to the fence, I can see where his take off was. Now know what to fix.

 

[sissy]

well at least you have the lilies to cover most of the surface area and give fish a place to hide.He knows to stand really still waiting for a fish to come to the surface .Amazing how patient he is to just keep coming back .

 

[j.w]

Oh darn addy, he came back w/ full force it sounds like. Better get all your armor set up to protect your fishies. I found out they have WiFi here at the campground so can check in now and then.

 

[addy1]

lol jw hope you are enjoy it!

We went and spent 100 bucks on chicken wire, ran it over the top of the pond covering edge to edge. It is ugly, but will save the fish until we get back

The sucker flew in about an hour ago, walked right up to the up slope side of the pond, hopped over onto the island squishing down the chicken wire (not well put up yet) Any ways it checked things out for a little and then took off. So not sure if it decided no win, or it got spooked. Only time will tell.

I am going to tighten the wire so it does not sag as it is doing right now.

well at least you have the lilies to cover most of the surface area and give fish a place to hide.He knows to stand really still waiting for a fish to come to the surface .Amazing how patient he is to just keep coming back .

The problem is Sissy the minute I walk in the pond, stirring up whatever is laying around they come running. I can see them doing that with heron legs too! And with it on the island, that is their fav place to be and not much lily coverage in that deep end.

 

[j.w]

Gosh I hope you can strengthen it up some so he can't just stand there and pick them all off one by one!

 

[addy1]

Gosh I hope you can strengthen it up some so he can't just stand there and pick them all off one by one!

oh yes sure will, we tossed it up today after the heron showed up this am. I am going to finish it tomorrow, tighten it up, get it up and off the island.

 

[sissy]

That is a major problem because they think they are being fed .Mr heron will hopefully find someplace else to go

 

[addy1]

Yep I hope it gets discouraged. Our problem is we have a river on each side of us, not real close, a mile or so for one about 2 miles for the other. Herons are known to be on the rivers. If they travel from one to the other, our house is in the path. I have been seeing them fly over all summer, none have stopped until this one did.

So back on heron protection mode, I have not used anything all summer, except the alligator heads.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

Say addy, I just had a thought, and this is the perfect time of year for it... Halloween is coming, and with it, shelves full of motion-detection devices that shake and scream! Most of them run off a couple AA batteries, and can easily be converted to run off a small power-pack so you could leave them running year-round. Why not get a variety of these things, so everywhere the heron tries to land, he gets a different noise thrown at him? I understand they get used to a single scare tactic, but if you have a bunch of different things, maybe he won't stick around long enough to learn them?

 

[blessedfamily]

Great videos but hate that its back.

 

[fresia1999]

That is sounds like a good idea Shdwdrgn. Addy I cannot believe how big he is. Do you just keep cameras up all the time like deer hunters do for deer?

 

[rebelangel_3733]

lol shdwdrgn I was thinking we should figure out a way to attach a motion detector on a fake alegator and make it's head raise and jaws snap! but the halloween item idea is a good one!