Too much nature

[gardengimp]

Our poor nature pond has too much of a good thing, too much nature! It is rainy and drizzly here today, a front went through last night. This morning listening to the frogs croaking, watching a wren splash in the bog then watching a group of cardinals go from my tomato plants to my raspberry plants. Oh, and the squirrels are burying pieces of sweet potato like they bury acorns. Nature is great. That is, until it is too much.



The darn thing flew in just before noon and it will not leave. We have chased it off and chased and chased. Our big male dog with the ferocious bark woofs at it. And it just keeps coming back. I finally left to go get some deer netting, hubby said it found a new fishing spot while I was gone. I'm not sure we have any adult fish left. The dang thang is smart enough to find the small open spaces between all my floating stuff.

Needless to say, the babies are going to stay in their tub forever.



When it first showed up, it was standing just in front of the green stool you see. The spot we sit and feed the fish. :weepy eyes face:. We chased it off and it went to the neighbors roof and watched the pond from there. Then we let the dogs into the front of the house, so the male dog could stand guard at the front door. The dang thang then come up the path side by the garage.

My poor fishies ......

 

[sissy]

BAD BIRDIE BAD BIRDIE . :razz: GO AWAY

 

[sissy]

gosh with all those trees you think ponds would be hidden from .He must smell water and fish and say snacky poo time

 

[capewind]

Roast Heron for dinner???????????????

 

[addy1]

sigh.........welcome to the heron fighting group!
They found my pond two summers ago, it has been a battle since, so far I have lost 2 fish to it, that I know of. (I do review our films so pretty sure that it is only two) They like to stalk up, (chicken wire / deer fencing around the pond stopped that. One flew into the walk out area, that is now covered by netting in the summer. The deep end is too deep for the heron to snack from. You need to have deer netting above the water, or the fish will get snagged in it. but low enough the heron can't sneak its head under, the chicken wire around the pond keeps that from happening. I have so many plants the chicken wire blends in, is not a eye problem.

They end up eating crickets from the gardens when they can't get to the fish........good cricket control, a few frogs now and then






The green heron is harder to fight, it is small enough to sneak in areas.

 

[HARO]

Roast Heron for dinner???????????????

You wouldn't like it.... very strong fishy taste!
John

 

[gardengimp]

Dang blasted bird. We caught it out there again even after the deer netting. Sigh ....

I really didn't want to use deer netting because I can't figure out how to keep it up off the water. My rag-ma-tag collection of floating things certainly didn't work. I was hoping with the wide width I bought today that I could stretch it from side to side. Still sagging in the middle. Have to get out there when it's not drizzling and see what I can rig. Definitely fencing along the sides where he was walking up.

I was sorely tempted to let our female dog have a go at heron snacks. She's quick enough she might have caught him. Speaking of which, where are all the dang neighborhood cats that usually hang out in my yard? They should have been pestering this big bird.

 

[addy1]

Put in a few fence stakes, in the corners and pull it tight. You could also tie a ball, foam, sealed milk bottle, something that floats to the fencing where is sinks to hold it out of the water.
Once they find fish they do not give up. The other thing that worked for me where floating gator heads, you could watch the heron stare at them, and would not get close. If your water is deep, too deep for them to land in the water and fish, the fencing around the pond will work great. Well disclaimer, it did for me lol

I made a nice floating plant island, towards the end of summer the heron came back and nicely flew in, landed on it and started trying to fish. Island gone, never to return.

 

[sissy]

yeh pieces of pvc hammered in the ground at an outward angle or rebar and pull net tight .like addy says .I had it up that way but no need for it so far .I put the window screening up because little froggy legs were getting hung up in netting

 

[addy1]

I have ended up with netting that has a 5 inch weave, hung around 4 feet above the pond, so all the little birds won't get stuck in it. I had a few die when I had deer netting over the pond, they would get trapped, panic and die.

 

[fishin4cars]

Harbour freight, Driveway sensor alarm, Put it near the area it's trying to get in. A few sirens and it will chase it off. Let the dog go, 99.9% chance it won't get it but the bird will get the picture quickly. Netting is almost a must. CD's hanging from a tree or shiny wind mills placed near the pond don't hurt and are cheap. Not 100% effective but IMO, every little bit helps. All else fails, Well we'll keep that a secret, but it has to do with BANG!

 

[Ruben Miranda]

Hello
Get a soft air pellet gun and pop a few times it will get the hint real quick.

or
get a couple of those censored scare crows that spray water that also seems to work.

Ruben

 

[j.w]

Scarecrow squirter s are fine for warm weather but don't work in the freeze. So far my radio on the porch by the pond w/ talk radio seems to be keeping the bird away along w/ fence around the sides and wind chimes and cats and boards w/ pokey things sticking up and skinny poles stuck around here and there and on and on it goes. My pond is deep and he can't wade in so one good thing although I've heard some will fly in and can swim if desperate! Good luck!

 

[capewind]

You wouldn't like it.... very strong fishy taste!
John

Hmmm... let's try this again... roasted heron? LOL... Dinner tonight was FISH...

 

[gardengimp]

I am such a bad fishie mommy. I can't find any of our goldfish. Sobbb .... It is particularly bad because after the first sighting, we had all the goldfish. They were all hiding inside a concrete block on the very bottom of the pond. What I didn't realize was the sneakiness of the dang blasted bird. Standing still as a statue by the fountain, and the fish thinking they were safe under the fountain. Also, it looks like the heron tangled with the netting at the feeding corner. The netting was just tucked under the rocks. Apparently he yanked it enough to pull a whole section up.

I loved them, and fed them and named them George. Doesn't matter if they were only .27 a year ago. One of them was actually born in our pond, a year and half or so ago. I told hubby tonight, get the air rifle out, it's time for war. If we didn't live in such a tree hugger community I would think more about the 22. I thought I was in pretty good shape, lots of wind chimes, light weight floating rings, the big huge floating impatient. None of the floating plants are secure enough to hold weight, they just tip over. Maybe if I had them secured to the side walls they would provide better protection. And one little 4x4 concrete block on the bottom of the pond wasn't enough protection. Katy bar the door, tomorrow I think I'll go to the adult toy store and get that inflatable girl. Though the stupid bird sure wasn't very bothered by hubby and I chasing it off.

Blocking the ability to walk up to the side of the pond seems to be one of the keys. I've only got a few open side areas around my pond, and of course, those are the places the bird picked. He didn't climb over the raised edge and pots & stuff on the bog side, and he didn't mess with the edge where I have the short piece of fencing along the sidewalk. So tomorrow I'll pull the garden patch portable fencing up and put it around the open sides of the pond.

He had to have tangled in the deer netting when I found him last, it's just draped over the edges and the sidewalk right now. At this point, I want to convince the dang bird that there is nothing but trouble around these parts for him. I've told our 10 year old retired flyball/agility racing star that if she can put on a burst of energy and catch the dang bird she can have heron snacks all to herself! The male dog barking away inside the door 15 feet away sure didn't phase the bird. I do need to fix the netting better though. I really don't want to have frogs, birds and fish get tangled up in it. I think I will try tenting it up over the top of the fountain.

I was going to let the babies out into the new side of the pond tomorrow. NOT HAPPENING! They are staying safe and snug as bugs in rug covered tub under the front porch with window screening draped over the top of their tub.