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#1
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Blue Heron
We have had Koi and goldfish in our pond for 3 years and NEVER had a heron
come around here, until, today. My goodness they are big birds! Anyway, he swooped in a got one of the goldfish My daughter saw it and totally freaked out that a bird ate one of our fish. My question is what is a good deterrent? Our setup is a 14 foot high pressure waterfall going down to a 1000 gallon pond. Would putting a small fountain in the middle of the pond deter the heron. He has been back since this afternoon but he knows where he can get a quick meal now. I am sure he will be back. Need suggestions. BTW netting wouldn't be a very good option since we don't have anyplace to secure it. Here is a link to a videos of the pond... http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...ndVideowmv.flv I think you can see why we can't really secure a net. |
#2
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Blue Heron
I wrote up this primer once upon a time...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Help, something is eating my fish! Build it and all of a sudden all of nature shows up in your backyard eating your fish! Herons, raccoons, snakes, bullfrogs and kingfishers are some of the most common predators in backyard ponds. What works to keep them away? Depends on how your pond is set up and your individual predator ~ Try: putting up an electric Fido Fence around the pond or the more expensive Pond Guardian fence setting up a motion activated sprinker, sometimes two for determined predators setting up a humane trap for raccoons (call Animal Control) netting the pond stringing fishing line here and there and everywhere to flummox herons putting in a 'heron scarer' decoy for kingfishers (go to www.froogle.com for info and price comparisons) Lethal methods are discouraged as some of these animals are federally protected and you can get in a lot of trouble which cuts into pond dollars and pond time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Good luck and let us know if you try any of these methods and how they work. (Labrador abuse works at our pond ;-) k :-) http://tinyurl.com/6bguh ~ new pond keeper info http://tinyurl.com/yp64db ~ slide show of pond |
#3
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Blue Heron
"Goldlexus" wrote in message news:6%hfi.4946$pT4.3080@trndny06... We have had Koi and goldfish in our pond for 3 years and NEVER had a heron come around here, until, today. My goodness they are big birds! Anyway, he swooped in a got one of the goldfish My daughter saw it and totally freaked out that a bird ate one of our fish. My question is what is a good deterrent? Our setup is a 14 foot high pressure waterfall going down to a 1000 gallon pond. Would putting a small fountain in the middle of the pond deter the heron. He has been back since this afternoon but he knows where he can get a quick meal now. I am sure he will be back. Need suggestions. BTW netting wouldn't be a very good option since we don't have anyplace to secure it. Here is a link to a videos of the pond... http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...ndVideowmv.flv I think you can see why we can't really secure a net. I've heard it said that herons are territorial and will not come around when another heron is around. With that in mine, some have suggested placing a Heron statue near the pond. I'm skeptical of this as I've never tried it or needed to (though I did have a large hawk visit my pond last winter, but apparently without incident). But you could try it and see if it works. Netting is the best deterent, but you said that isn't an option, so perhaps others here can give you different advice than I have. One thing that you shouldn't do, of course, is to harm the bird, since it is a protected species. Good luck. George |
#4
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Blue Heron
On Sat, 23 Jun 2007 18:56:29 CST, "Goldlexus"
wrote: We have had Koi and goldfish in our pond for 3 years and NEVER had a heron come around here, until, today. My goodness they are big birds! Anyway, he swooped in a got one of the goldfish My daughter saw it and totally freaked out that a bird ate one of our fish. My question is what is a good deterrent? Our setup is a 14 foot high pressure waterfall going down to a 1000 gallon pond. Would putting a small fountain in the middle of the pond deter the heron. He has been back since this afternoon but he knows where he can get a quick meal now. I am sure he will be back. Need suggestions. BTW netting wouldn't be a very good option since we don't have anyplace to secure it. Here is a link to a videos of the pond... http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...ndVideowmv.flv I think you can see why we can't really secure a net. My heron scarecrow sprinklers have worked for me. http://www.aquaticponds.com/Pest%20Control.htm Click on the video. ~ jan ------------ Zone 7a, SE Washington State Ponds: www.jjspond.us |
#5
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Blue Heron
Thanks for the advice, I may try some fishing line. That would be managable
with our pond set up. Another question, are there certain times of day that they may come around? Haven't seen the booger since he nabbed the one goldfish. The fish don't seem skidish either perhaps it happened so fast they don't even know there were/are in danger. Also, why on earth after having these fish for over 3 years did a heron show up.? Never seen one before today. "George" wrote in message ... "Goldlexus" wrote in message news:6%hfi.4946$pT4.3080@trndny06... We have had Koi and goldfish in our pond for 3 years and NEVER had a heron come around here, until, today. My goodness they are big birds! Anyway, he swooped in a got one of the goldfish My daughter saw it and totally freaked out that a bird ate one of our fish. My question is what is a good deterrent? Our setup is a 14 foot high pressure waterfall going down to a 1000 gallon pond. Would putting a small fountain in the middle of the pond deter the heron. He has been back since this afternoon but he knows where he can get a quick meal now. I am sure he will be back. Need suggestions. BTW netting wouldn't be a very good option since we don't have anyplace to secure it. Here is a link to a videos of the pond... http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...ndVideowmv.flv I think you can see why we can't really secure a net. I've heard it said that herons are territorial and will not come around when another heron is around. With that in mine, some have suggested placing a Heron statue near the pond. I'm skeptical of this as I've never tried it or needed to (though I did have a large hawk visit my pond last winter, but apparently without incident). But you could try it and see if it works. Netting is the best deterent, but you said that isn't an option, so perhaps others here can give you different advice than I have. One thing that you shouldn't do, of course, is to harm the bird, since it is a protected species. Good luck. George |
#6
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Blue Heron
Exactly the same happened to me - no 'visitors' for 8 years and then
suddenly a couple of months ago I got up in the morning and a huge bird was standing within feet of my conservatory door gazing in the pond. I thought he's eaten the lot as the water was all churned up and not a single fish in sight. It took 2 days for them to start emerging from the bottom of the pond under the plants (thank God, safe), so they must have been very distressed by the attack. I rushed out and got a very good Heron replica which is still standing on the edge of the pond, but it's not 100% effective as the Heron came around again although didn't attack. So - I resorted to netting, expecting it to look dreadful. However, I got black, very fine netting and stretched it very tightly over the main pond, pegging it down in the soil behind the rocks - you can hardly see it. And it works - no more visitations !! I can sleep again at night knowing my little friends are safe. It's not necessary to net the waterfall obviously as there's no fish there - couldn't you do the same thing somehow across your main pond, pegging the netting behind the rocks ? I used wire 'corners' which I snip off each end of wire hangers to peg the netting - they make very flexible pegs which can be pushed into small cracks, they are strong and virtually invisible. "Goldlexus" wrote in message news:6%hfi.4946$pT4.3080@trndny06... We have had Koi and goldfish in our pond for 3 years and NEVER had a heron come around here, until, today. My goodness they are big birds! Anyway, he swooped in a got one of the goldfish My daughter saw it and totally freaked out that a bird ate one of our fish. My question is what is a good deterrent? Our setup is a 14 foot high pressure waterfall going down to a 1000 gallon pond. Would putting a small fountain in the middle of the pond deter the heron. He has been back since this afternoon but he knows where he can get a quick meal now. I am sure he will be back. Need suggestions. BTW netting wouldn't be a very good option since we don't have anyplace to secure it. Here is a link to a videos of the pond... http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...ndVideowmv.flv I think you can see why we can't really secure a net. |
#7
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Blue Heron
"Goldlexus" wrote in message news:6%hfi.4946$pT4.3080@trndny06... We have had Koi and goldfish in our pond for 3 years and NEVER had a heron come around here, until, today. My goodness they are big birds! Anyway, he swooped in a got one of the goldfish My daughter saw it and totally freaked out that a bird ate one of our fish. My question is what is a good deterrent? Our setup is a 14 foot high pressure waterfall going down to a 1000 gallon pond. Would putting a small fountain in the middle of the pond deter the heron. He has been back since this afternoon but he knows where he can get a quick meal now. I am sure he will be back. Need suggestions. BTW netting wouldn't be a very good option since we don't have anyplace to secure it. Here is a link to a videos of the pond... http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...ndVideowmv.flv I think you can see why we can't really secure a net. =========================== My connection is too slow to watch videos but we had a similar problem. We made some changes and netted the ponds and the large grow-out and goldfish tanks behind the house. We not only had herons but kingfishers, snapper turtles, water snakes and bullfrogs cleaning out our ponds. Jan claims success with those motion activated water sprinklers. Other people mention fishing line around the pond. These things may work for herons but are not much use against the others. -- RM.... Frugal ponding since 1995. rec.ponder since late 1996. My Pond & Aquarium Pages: http://tinyurl.com/9do58 Zone 6. Middle TN USA ~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö |
#8
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Blue Heron
"George" wrote:
"Goldlexus" wrote in message [ . . . ] I've heard it said that herons are territorial and will not come around when another heron is around. With that in mine, some have suggested placing a Heron statue near the pond. I'm skeptical of this as I've never tried it or needed to (though I did have a large hawk visit my pond last winter, but apparently without incident). But you could try it and see if it works. Netting is the best deterent, but you said that isn't an option, so perhaps others here can give you different advice than I have. One thing that you shouldn't do, of course, is to harm the bird, since it is a protected species. Good luck. I started with a very lifelike Heron statue by the pond. It was of no value. I gave it to a friend in Texas, who now has it watching over his herd of plastic Pink Flamingos in his front yard. Then I got enough garden "hoop" fence to surround the pond, similar to the left hand picture on the 'borders' page at http://www.gardman.co.uk/asp/product...os_borders.asp, but taller. They're steel, covered with green plastic. I think I bought them at Home Depot. The tops were high enough that I was able to attach bird netting to the top, secured with tie wraps near the bottom. No more Heron problem. ;-) HTH -- Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families! Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not forgotten. Thanks ! ! ! ~Semper Fi~ |
#9
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Blue Heron
"Goldlexus" wrote in message
news:7Nnfi.507$ss5.224@trndny03... Thanks for the advice, I may try some fishing line. That would be managable with our pond set up. Another question, are there certain times of day that they may come around? Haven't seen the booger since he nabbed the one goldfish. The fish don't seem skidish either perhaps it happened so fast they don't even know there were/are in danger. Also, why on earth after having these fish for over 3 years did a heron show up.? Never seen one before today. A lot of the country is in a drought, so he may have initially been attracted by the water, then found that there were easy pickings there. George "George" wrote in message ... "Goldlexus" wrote in message news:6%hfi.4946$pT4.3080@trndny06... We have had Koi and goldfish in our pond for 3 years and NEVER had a heron come around here, until, today. My goodness they are big birds! Anyway, he swooped in a got one of the goldfish My daughter saw it and totally freaked out that a bird ate one of our fish. My question is what is a good deterrent? Our setup is a 14 foot high pressure waterfall going down to a 1000 gallon pond. Would putting a small fountain in the middle of the pond deter the heron. He has been back since this afternoon but he knows where he can get a quick meal now. I am sure he will be back. Need suggestions. BTW netting wouldn't be a very good option since we don't have anyplace to secure it. Here is a link to a videos of the pond... http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...ndVideowmv.flv I think you can see why we can't really secure a net. I've heard it said that herons are territorial and will not come around when another heron is around. With that in mine, some have suggested placing a Heron statue near the pond. I'm skeptical of this as I've never tried it or needed to (though I did have a large hawk visit my pond last winter, but apparently without incident). But you could try it and see if it works. Netting is the best deterent, but you said that isn't an option, so perhaps others here can give you different advice than I have. One thing that you shouldn't do, of course, is to harm the bird, since it is a protected species. Good luck. George |
#10
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Blue Heron
On Jun 24, 6:45 am, "Goldlexus" wrote:
Thanks for the advice, I may try some fishing line. That would be managable with our pond set up. We thought the fishing line sounded good too - then we watched the heron tip toe over and thru the fishing line. We then moved on to netting the pond. That worked, although the heron was able to stab a fish thru the net but couldn't extract it. The fish did survive but does carry a scar. Now we rely on the motion detector and haven't seen a heron since it was installed. Bonnie NJ |
#11
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Blue Heron
"Nick Cramer" wrote in message ... Then I got enough garden "hoop" fence to surround the pond, similar to the left hand picture on the 'borders' page at http://www.gardman.co.uk/asp/product...os_borders.asp, but taller. They're steel, covered with green plastic. I think I bought them at Home Depot. The tops were high enough that I was able to attach bird netting to the top, secured with tie wraps near the bottom. No more Heron problem. ;-) ============================== That's how my ponds are covered. I got the "hoop" fence at Wal*Mart. It was something like 10' for $2.99. It keeps the net high enough over the water that heron beaks can't reach the surface no less the fish. Exuberant small jumpers don't gillnet themselves either. -- RM.... Frugal ponding since 1995. rec.ponder since late 1996. My Pond & Aquarium Pages: http://tinyurl.com/9do58 Zone 6. Middle TN USA ~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö |
#12
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Blue Heron
We thought the fishing line sounded good too - then we watched the
heron tip toe over and thru the fishing line. We then moved on to netting the pond. That worked, although the heron was able to stab a fish thru the net but couldn't extract it. The fish did survive but does carry a scar. Now we rely on the motion detector and haven't seen a heron since it was installed. Proves that it is a trial and error procedure to find out what works for your pond. Glad you found a solution that works! k :-) |
#13
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Blue Heron
Bonnie in NJ wrote:
We thought the fishing line sounded good too - then we watched the heron tip toe over and thru the fishing line. We then moved on to netting the pond. That worked, although the heron was able to stab a fish thru the net but couldn't extract it. The fish did survive but does carry a scar. Now we rely on the motion detector and haven't seen a heron since it was installed. I bet you're happier dealing with the sprinkler than the net anyway. ;-) ~ jan ------------ Zone 7a, SE Washington State Ponds: www.jjspond.us |
#14
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Blue Heron
"~ jan" wrote in message ... I bet you're happier dealing with the sprinkler than the net anyway. ;-) ~ jan ======================== Unfortunately the sprinklers wont work on the snapper turtles, water snakes, bullfrogs and Kingfishers. If the hose pops while you're gone for the day or a weekend, expect a large water bill. -- RM.... Frugal ponding since 1995. rec.ponder since late 1996. My Pond & Aquarium Pages: http://tinyurl.com/9do58 Zone 6. Middle TN USA ~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö |
#15
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Blue Heron
On Tue, 26 Jun 2007 10:57:14 CST, "Reel McKoi" wrote:
======================== Unfortunately the sprinklers wont work on the snapper turtles, water snakes, bullfrogs and Kingfishers. If the hose pops while you're gone for the day or a weekend, expect a large water bill. Well.... in this particular thread we were not talking about those critters. So let's not poo poo something that works, just because it doesn't work for you or your situation. ;-) As Kathy said in her post, each pond is unique and not every pond is like mine or yours. Thus when it is a heron or any critter the size of a robin on up that stands by the pond, sprinklers DO work. I'm sure it goes off when the Kingfisher strikes, but the bird probably is too fast in dive mode to be diverted. As far as the hose popping off, I've NEVER had that happen in the years I was using a hose. To free up use of a hose though, DS hard piped all my motion sprinkler connections and put the pipe under ground directly to the spot I wanted. I've been using 2 of them now between 5-7 years, never a problem. No different in my mind than running ones automated sprinklers. And as far as going OOT, one should ALWAYS have a pond sitter anyway. Now let's talk about the cons of nets: Ugly, unless it is possible to make it taunt. In the way, unless one can put it high overhead. Too low the heron strikes thru and the plants grow thru and get tangled. If not taunt enough leaves lay on it and droop into the water, gill netting fish or just polluting the water like a tea bag. If too high, or any accidental openings, a heron will fly in and walk under. Shall I go on? I have some real ponders stories I could share. ~ jan ------------ Zone 7a, SE Washington State Ponds: www.jjspond.us |
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