On Fri, 12 Jun 2009 08:37:25 EDT, ~ jan wrote:

On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:45:10 EDT, Jim Elbrecht wrote:
-snip-
First off, Nice Pond!!!! Have your pugs ever fallen into the deep end from
the wading section?

Thanks-- and 'not yet'. My pug is the fawn one & he is real
cautious around water. [a couple close calls as a pup] The older
black one is real cautious, too.

But the young black one is a flat-out adventurer. I've tried to
minimize the pug access with the rocky shore, and a line of anacharis
right at the drop off from wading to 'deep end'. Also have a
plant shelf that is 12" deep and a foot wide, so most accidents would
be quickly recoverable by the pugs.


2nd, we use to be able to get orange, plastic fish, about the size of a
goldfish, looked real enough that I've had people mistake them for the real
thing (obviously NOT pond people). They were called heron scarers, but I've
googled and not found them sold anywhere on-line.

I've toyed with the idea of decoys- but I read in one post where the
man claimed the kingfisher poked lots of holes in his liner. So I'm
a little afraid to encourage even temporary diving. [though it would
be fun to watch.]


3rdly... I don't think a Kingfisher would keep dining on minnows if there
are bigger fish nearby, and the way rosy reds breed, you might be happy to
be doing what we call: "Advanced Bird Feeding." :-) ~ jan

You might be right on the pre-emptive herd thinning.g I thought
he'd gotten a bunch, but I guess he just scared them. We had 13-14
that were always schooled up. After a couple of days with no school,
10 have regrouped. [and there are at least 3 lily pads hosting eggs-
and what appears to be another nest in a cinder block. [Old block that
had been sitting outside since the garage was built 25 yrs ago.-
should be inert by now, eh?]

I'm probably more concerned about liner damage now.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Jim