Hi, I am new to gardenBanter through desperation at losing all my fish (30+) to a Heron. We have a decoy - obviously useless! but wondered if anyone has had success with anything else? We want to re-stock but only when we have made it safe from this horrible bird. Thanks.
Herons are not horrible birds. Grey herons live in my area. I think they rather majestic in flight. I enjoy watching the kingfishers dive in my pond and pull out a fish. Get a dog.
You're not very koi are you Nad:O))
If you like weekends (8 hr./day & 40 hr./week), then thank a labor union. They paid for it in blood. Real working class heros.
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Net the pond.
D
Easy solution sounds way to go. However the smart monsters can walk on a net forcing it to provide water for your fish to enter. They "blue Heron's" will wait and clean out a small pond. Fish to big to swallow will just lose their eyes. Your fish Koi etc need a place to hide.
Hi Purplegirl, once a heron finds a pond, it will empty it !! They normally come around 7am in the morning !! Decoys can work but also as the heron has to actually walk into the pond (as it cant land actually in it) one good thing is to have a wire positioned about 15" high just back from the edge to stop it walking to the pond ! now this might be impossible for you but it does work.
Dont be talked into having thngs for the fish to hide under in the water as all it will do is to stand motionless until they come out and then grab them.
one of those childrens windmills might help as well, get as big a one as you can find, they dont like the movement or the noise they make.
Hope this helps, Lannerman.
Support the net so that this doen't happen or make the pond deep enough so they cannot get to the fish at the bottom, or both. And they are not horrible birds or monsters, they are just trying make a living like any other creature.
They
Some water lillies or floating water plants will help here.
David
How do you know you have 30 fish?
You really need to describe your pond; area x depth, and in what type of environment... a photo would help immensely. My pond covers about
1/3 acre, is about 20' deep at the center, is spring fed, and is located in a wildflower meadow so is surrounded by flora, it contains several types of fish, many types of frogs, snakes, turtles, is home to many insects, and possibly the creature from the black lagoon. Several times a day my pair of resident Canada geese use it for bathing and will soon use it to rear young. I enjoy watching the herons, egrets, and other critters fishing my pond... when my grand kids visit they fish in it too. The fish, frogs, snails, etc. can reproduce far faster than they can be eaten. If your pond is relatively small and in a more formal setting there are many techniques that can be employed to help thwart preditors. Naturally if yours is a man made affair built of man made materials and occasionally needs to be filled with a hose it is not a pond, it's a pool. Based on the fact that you know how many fish it contains I'm pretty certain what you have is a pool... it's easy to protect fish in a pool, pretty much the same way one keeps their cat out of their aquarium and protects plants from deer... there is one sure way and one sure way only, you need to screen/fence. Or you can add materials that will encourage your fish to reproduce and hide. Herons are solitary hunters and are territorial, it's rare you'll find more than one at one location at any given time, with relatively small bodies of waster they tend to take turns... fish can reproduce far quicker than one or three herons can eat them. Having a pond one must understand and accept the natural orders. I think way too many employ a water feature for its aesthetic value (whatever that is) but haven't a clue. Kids love to fish more than anything else:
Fish emulsion fertilizer stinks to high heaven. I can not imagine what a nightmare working for one of these plants would be. But I'm glad somebody does, because it works really well for a nasty brown mucus. You can do a search on the Internet to find companies that make the stuff, if you're interested in the process.
I like the herons fishing. A hidey hole for the fish will allow a few, the smart ones, to survive heron predation for years. Just keep adding fish. The more fish you put in there, the more smart fish you will end up with.
Una
and/or stock it with fish that make plenty of small ones quickly (mollies, guppies).
it's pretty unlikely the heron will get them all.
songbird
How big is your pond? I think covering it with small-holed nets will help you get Heron away from your fishes. And yes, I think getting the smaller and faster ones will be a good trick too. But of course, it will always depend with your preference.
A guy I worked with had the same problem. He raised trout for re-sale. One day he got tired of the bird after the trout and decided to take a shot at it with a .22 rifle. By the way, I think these birds are protected! When he shot, he missed the bird but hit an old neighbor man walking down the road. Needless to say: he got himself in a whole mess of trouble. Luckly the man he shot recovered from the bullet wound.
Rich from PA
Yoose Deliverence folks....
Slither back under your rock Shelly.....
Herons and egrets are protected under international treaty (The Migratory Bird Act- and treaties are as). Shooting one- if you get caught- lands you in Federal trouble. The US Fish and Wildlife Service is notorious for lacking a sense of humor when people shoot birds.
Chris
you should be asking on rec.ponds.moderated
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Somewhere between zone 5 and 6 tucked along the shore of Lake Michigan on the council grounds of the Fox, Mascouten, Potawatomi, and Winnebago
My best-ever photo of a great blue heron - - blown up, professionally framed - and hanging on my wall - .. taken at the reserve in Florida .. forget the name - ... you know - the aligator place ... :-) John T.
Must be a rather shallow pond, more a puddle... psot pictures.
I see no great blue heron?!?!?
Here's one at my pond, late last summer, right after planting my sugar maple:
... you can't see my wall. John T.
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