About a month ago I started noticing my fish were suddenly very skittish, not even coming up for food. I finally turned off the pumps to take a look, and realized I had lost a LOT of smaller fish. Started watching in the early mornings, and discovered a heron has been visiting. I scared him off a couple times, then strung up some fishing line. Fortunately I haven't seen him back since then.
Probably related... there's been some recent articles about a bunch of goldfish being released in one of the local reservoirs, breeding like mad, and officials have been planning ways they can eliminate the fish, including draining the reservoir. The problem was solved for them though... suddenly there's been a huge surge in pelicans and herons in the area, and the goldfish population appears to have been wiped out. Unfortunately for me, that means more birds of prey circling the area.
Since I've scared off the heron, I came home from work Tuesday to a new surprise -- a pair of mallard ducks were in the pond! The female was working her way around, pulling up algae, eating the duckweed, and nibbling at the moneywort, while the male followed nervously close behind. They wandered around the pond, around the yard, back in the pond, probably stayed about an hour before they took off. This weekend I'm going to pick up some corn to put out, just in case they come back. Anybody that gets rid of that algae is a friend of mine! The female also settled in around the irises several times, potentially looking for a place to nest? Not sure how skittish they will be. Our dogs are too old to even run, let alone do more than look at them (one can't even use her hind legs any more). If the ducks decide to settle in, I think everyone should get along fine, but we'll see if they even come back.
Probably related... there's been some recent articles about a bunch of goldfish being released in one of the local reservoirs, breeding like mad, and officials have been planning ways they can eliminate the fish, including draining the reservoir. The problem was solved for them though... suddenly there's been a huge surge in pelicans and herons in the area, and the goldfish population appears to have been wiped out. Unfortunately for me, that means more birds of prey circling the area.
Since I've scared off the heron, I came home from work Tuesday to a new surprise -- a pair of mallard ducks were in the pond! The female was working her way around, pulling up algae, eating the duckweed, and nibbling at the moneywort, while the male followed nervously close behind. They wandered around the pond, around the yard, back in the pond, probably stayed about an hour before they took off. This weekend I'm going to pick up some corn to put out, just in case they come back. Anybody that gets rid of that algae is a friend of mine! The female also settled in around the irises several times, potentially looking for a place to nest? Not sure how skittish they will be. Our dogs are too old to even run, let alone do more than look at them (one can't even use her hind legs any more). If the ducks decide to settle in, I think everyone should get along fine, but we'll see if they even come back.
