Jan, I noticed that you mentioned you had a "decoy" fish to scare off the
herons, and I was wondering what you (or anyone else that has one) thought
of its effectiveness. They showed me one in the pet store and I burst out
laughing when I saw how big it was! I guess the idea is that the heron
tries to grab it, realizes it's made of wood and gets frustrated and goes
away...? Does it float on top of the water? Thanks for any answers.
Kirsten

Hi Kirsten,

I used one to frustrate a kingfisher.
It floats just under the water and is the 'go to' fish for the bird as it looks
like easy picking.
What it did was enable all the other fish to get a warning so they could run
and hide in the anacharis and in the fishy condos I have in the builder's brick
that holds up my island.

The kingfisher never twigged to the trick. He dove in six times to get that
decoy fish. The rock anchoring it to the pond bottom kept it there and he was
never able to pull the decoy out.

I don't know if you've ever seen a kingfisher but they are noisy birds who call
out to claim their territory and that bird got louder and wetter and madder as
the day wore on. It was a real show to watch.

What the decoy would probably do with a heron is give the fish that first
warning. Don't know if it would frustrate or scare the heron but I do know of
one kingfisher with an ulcer.


kathy :-)
algae primer
http://hometown.aol.com/ka30p/myhomepage/garden.html