Andrew Burgess wrote in message ...
It was a Blue Heron (more like a grubby brown/grey
herron) The ******* was HUGE like a 747. I was at my neighbors house
a block a way and he said a big blue Herron just flew by and I know
where he is going. I ran home and he was standing next to my pond and
at least 3 feet tall.
So much for my theory that it can't be a Heron! Well I put up some
netting and left a little spot open in the shallow end so small birds
can get a drink, hopefully that will work. Damn the bird was huge. He
did eat a lot of my mosqito fish which is o.k, after the initial
attack the goldfish got real smart, real quick. How he manage to find
my little pond is beyond me.

I had a similar experience recently. 15 years with no net and no losses, and no
large bodies of water nearby, then a dozen new koi missing (and those had been
tank raised for a year to put on size). One time I was on the deck 20 feet from
the pond and the heron flew over the house behind me, about 5 feet over my
head; and then aborted his landing when he saw me. The rush of air on his wings
was amazing! Scared us both!


Yeah it is an awesome bird, and it flies and cruises pretty low to the
ground. I guess if it spends half its days flying a straight line over
back yards he is gonna find most of the ponds. How deep were your
koi? besides not deep enough?


I wasn't happy about the net but sure enough I don't 'see' it anymore, after a
few weeks.

I have birdbaths so am not worried about birds but I wish the bats could still
drink from the pond...