It really doesn't sound like Kingfisher behavior. I don't know that much
about ponds, but I'm a birdwatcher, and the Kingfishers I've seen usually
have a perch above the water so they can keep an eye on things. They're
fond of sitting on telephone lines; I can recall one road where each
Kingfisher had his own territory, i.e., the section of line between two
poles.

Anne Lurie
Raleigh, NC







"~ jan JJsPond.us" wrote in message
...
I am amazed at all the responses and not one said: KINGFISHER.!

A heron can eat at least eight 10-12" koi in one meal, so all your small
goldies would have been gone. A Kingfish, otoh, would dive and take one
each time, half a dozen 3" would probably fill it up. The best cure for a
Kingfisher is an orange plastic fish $5, can be seen at
www.aqua-mart.com
~ jan

On Thu, 12 Jun 2003 12:49:22 -0400, wrote:

If a heron discovers a pond, will it eat its fill whenever it shows up,
or
just grab one fish and go? I have a preformed pond surrounded by plants
(toads and frogs would love it, if I could get any, but that's another
story), which had 14 goldfish about three inches long (one was an orando,
which sure as heck couldn't jump out.)

They all made it through the longest winter in Baltimore history (as did
my painted turtle), but I've lost six of them since April. And I mean
lost, as in they disappeared. There's been no sign of remains in the
pond, which lets the turtle off the hook (she can't catch them, anyway -
in almost two years, she never even came close to catching a fish, even
the oranda), and turtles are messy eaters - there'd be scales in the pond
if she was guilty, even of only eating fish that died naturally. There's
also been no bodies or parts or crowds of flies outside the pond, and the
potted plants on the ledge are never knocked over, which would seem to
absolve raccoons or cats. We've never seen a snake in six years of the
pond being up, so that's unlikely. We've never seen a heron, either (the
flamingos make the buffet look occupied, perhaps), and I'd figure a heron
would scarf a bunch of smallish fish at a time, but what's left?



Alan


See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

In 9%vGa.4126$8p2.3194@lakeread04, on 06/13/03
at 10:45 PM, "Sue Alexandre" said:

Hi, Alan:
I've only had him for a week now, but I've been using floating turtle
sticks and pieces of chicken left over from dinner. I'm trying to get
him to like me, and I think the chicken might be doing the trick!

That's what mine gets - Repto-Min and boiled chicken.



Alan

--

---------------------------------------------------------------------
**** Please use address ) to reply via e-mail. ****

Posted using registered MR/2 ICE Newsreader #564

---------------------------------------------------------------------

In , on 06/14/03
at 10:07 PM, ESPMER (K30a) said:

But you can hear a Kingfisher if you have one.
Unless he came while the home occupants are out of the house. They have
this rackous call, like kak-ak-kak-ak. And they spend most of their time
kakking on about their potential fish meal.
Once you know it you'll always recognize it.

I haven't heard such a sound that I can recall, and we're usually home.


Alan

--

---------------------------------------------------------------------
**** Please use address ) to reply via e-mail. ****

Posted using registered MR/2 ICE Newsreader #564

---------------------------------------------------------------------

In , on 06/14/03
at 01:00 PM, ~ jan JJsPond.us said:

I am amazed at all the responses and not one said: KINGFISHER.!

A heron can eat at least eight 10-12" koi in one meal, so all your small
goldies would have been gone. A Kingfish, otoh, would dive and take one
each time, half a dozen 3" would probably fill it up. The best cure for a
Kingfisher is an orange plastic fish $5, can be seen at
www.aqua-mart.com ~ jan

I just put one in. It worked on the turtle - she tried to eat it, and
gave up after a few bites. :-)


Alan

--

---------------------------------------------------------------------
**** Please use address ) to reply via e-mail. ****

Posted using registered MR/2 ICE Newsreader #564

---------------------------------------------------------------------

A heron can eat at least eight 10-12" koi in one meal, so all your small
goldies would have been gone. A Kingfish, otoh, would dive and take one
each time, half a dozen 3" would probably fill it up. The best cure for a
Kingfisher is an orange plastic fish $5, can be seen at
www.aqua-mart.com ~ jan

I just put one in. It worked on the turtle - she tried to eat it, and
gave up after a few bites. :-) Alan

LOL! Be prepared for the non-ponding humans that can't tell either. "What's
wrong with the little one that's not moving?" Or "Uh Oh, You've got a dead
one covered with green slime." ~ jan ;o)

See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

In , on 06/15/03
at 06:38 PM, ~ jan JJsPond.us said:

A heron can eat at least eight 10-12" koi in one meal, so all your small
goldies would have been gone. A Kingfish, otoh, would dive and take one
each time, half a dozen 3" would probably fill it up. The best cure for a
Kingfisher is an orange plastic fish $5, can be seen at
www.aqua-mart.com ~ jan

I just put one in. It worked on the turtle - she tried to eat it, and
gave up after a few bites. :-) Alan

LOL! Be prepared for the non-ponding humans that can't tell either.
"What's wrong with the little one that's not moving?" Or "Uh Oh, You've
got a dead one covered with green slime." ~ jan ;o)

I've already got a couple of those. "That fish looks sick," was the
first.


Alan

--

---------------------------------------------------------------------
**** Please use address ) to reply via e-mail. ****

Posted using registered MR/2 ICE Newsreader #564

---------------------------------------------------------------------

cpemma wrote:
wrote in message
ganews.com...
snipped
We've never seen a heron, either (the
flamingos make the buffet look occupied, perhaps), and I'd figure a
heron would scarf a bunch of smallish fish at a time, but what's
left?

Last summer about a dozen small goldfish just disappeared over a
period of weeks, and on one occasion my wife spotted a magpie on the
pond wall with a fish at its feet. This year we've added 3 small gold
Ogon koi, 2 have disappeared. 3 more drab Ghost koi added at the same
time are still around.

I'd not heard of magpies taking pond fish, but they have the
reputation for liking shiny things, and a google groups search found
other cases of them thieving fish here in the UK. They're also very
common in our area. (

Since writing the above, the last of the gold Ogon's has gone, along with
the brightest of the Ghosts. I'm convinced magpies are the culprits, a
family of 4 are around most days.

The fish bask half under a lily leaf, with their tails flickering, very
tempting.

"cpemma" wrote:

Since writing the above, the last of the gold Ogon's has gone, along with
the brightest of the Ghosts. I'm convinced magpies are the culprits, a
family of 4 are around most days.

The fish bask half under a lily leaf, with their tails flickering, very
tempting.

Give them something to hide in?

"cpemma" wrote in message
...
(SNIP)

I'd not heard of magpies taking pond fish, but they have the reputation
for
liking shiny things, and a google groups search found other cases of them
thieving fish here in the UK. They're also very common in our area. (

Just yesterday one of my teenagers saw a magpie dive out of the tree over
our small pond and snag a goldfish. Thet have been hanging around a lot, now
I know why.

John