HE SHOULD BE! If it wasn't for my wonderful cat Spooky he would have ate my fish all up. Spooky was sitting on the back of the couch looking out the window and her tail was moving back and forth like she seen a little bird outside that she would like to eat up so I went to see what she was getting so riled up about and Whoa...........there he was..............THE GREAT BLUE HERON, standing by my pond fence just waiting for the right moment to stab a fish for breakfast. I grabbed my broom and went tearing out the front door waving and shouting like a crazy woman and he flew off to the roof of the shop across to the other side of our property and I went racing wildly after him screaming and carrying on like a banshee til he jumped up and flew off. Then I had to go drag out some fishing line and pound some stakes in the ground and attach everything up so as to try and discourage him for next time. I had some old black rubber bungees and I hooked those up temporarily too so the whole thing looks pretty ratty right now but I think it might work til I can do something more decorative next spring. I'm hoping anyway. I counted all the fish and they all seem to be there so whew, that's a relief

Do you live in an area where there are other homes close by? We had the same experience, kinda, and the neighbors all got their heads together and formed a "neighborhood watch" to keep an eye out for the heron. LOL. Really. One spent about a half hour sitting on the patio by the pond one day when we were gone, hoping to scare away the heron. Another one came running and yelling to tell me the heron was on our roof. Her kids were miffed that she wouldn't let them shoot the bird from their bedroom window. I don't have any problem since I put up the little fence and planted the marginals along the side the herons come in from.

I have to chuckle though imagining you running screaming, wielding your broom. Now your neighbors are sure you are crazy.

Yes we have neighbors right across the road (we live in a culdesac of 5 homes on about an acre each)and we all look out for each other but only one can see a view of my pond from her property and if she ever seen him there she would chase him away too. They all know I'm crazy already so they wouldn't be phased by my wild maneuvers I will build a better system come next spring but it's too cold and wet around here now...........we might even get a little snow tonight

Hopefully someone caught your running with a broom and screaming act on video.....LOL....

Tell you what. I will gladly trade you a white for a blue.....

I know these birds are a pest when you have a pond with fish, but they are such beautiful, graceful birds. I hope you don't have any more trouble with them. Maybe the one you cahsed away told his friends not to go to that house. A crazy lady with a broom lives there!

Mikey wrote:Hopefully someone caught your running with a broom and screaming act on video.....LOL....

Tell you what. I will gladly trade you a white for a blue.....

How about I give you two blues and you give me a palm tree

rosebud wrote:I know these birds are a pest when you have a pond with fish, but they are such beautiful, graceful birds. I hope you don't have any more trouble with them. Maybe the one you cahsed away told his friends not to go to that house. A crazy lady with a broom lives there!

They are lovely aren't they and I would never hurt one but I will sure do everything I can to keep him from getting my fish even if I have to resort to a net over the top which I don't want to do

Okay, now MY post has disappeared! JW, try buying some pinwheels and putting them around your pond. When the wind blows, they flash and make noise. We use them to keep the birds out of our tomatoes.

Has anyone used one of those 'Driveway sensors' to alert you of any activity or movement near you pond?

It wouldn't work for me with my pond next to the house like it is. The only preditor I need to be concerned about would be heron. In a year and a half I have only seen them circling the area, but never landing. I think it might be the location of my pond in the yard near the house.

Happy ponding,

Rich

Mine's close to the front porch but I've found Mr Heron standing out there in the early morning eyeballing the fish. I haven't seen him lately since I went out running at him w/ my broom. I also added some stakes and strung fish line around amidst all the other stuff.

He's back and he won't give up! Last night just before dark I was out looking for one of my cats and when I came near a big Douglass Fir tree all of a sudden something w/ huge wings flew away w/ a loud flapping of his wings and it startled me. Well I figured he was spying on my pond and had it marked for an early morning breakfast so I got up early this morning and sure enough he was standing by my pond. I ran out there yelling and waving my arms and he left but then he just came back a few minutes ago again. I was sitting in my computer room and looked out the window to see our large black cat w/ her hair all poofed up running as fast as she could across the yard. So I run out there to see what's going on and she's chasing that big old huge bird around the side of the house. The heron landed on the back part of the roof and when I saw him I yelled again and waved my arms and the cat sat there w/ her eyes glued on that bird w/ her hair still all poofed up and the bird flew a long ways off til I couldn't see him anymore. I gave the cat much praise and she's gonna get a treat. I though I had it rigged so he wouldn't be able to get that close w/ all my fencing and fish line and wind chimes etc. but he managed to find a weak spot. So I spent the whole morning adding more junk to make it tighter. I feel like Wiley coyote trying to outsmart the Roadrunner with bombs,traps etc!


Here's a few pix I took today of him:

Sounds like you NEED a wiley coyote!
Actually a lifelike heron decoy could scare away your bird. They like to hunt alone.

Or, you could just hire this man...

prestontolbert wrote:Sounds like you NEED a wiley coyote!
Actually a lifelike heron decoy could scare away your bird. They like to hunt alone.

I've seen people using those heron decoy's at their ponds but I've also read on the internet that during mating season it can attract them
I still may try one and you have to move them around all the time or the bird gets the idea that it's not real or died standing up


Yesterday I attached my radio out on our covered front porch right near the pond to a timer and set it to go on at 5am and off at 9pm and the bird came again but he didn't come near the pond. He just sat on top of the shed and looked all hunched down and mad.This morning at 6:20am he was back and he was on the shed again and then he flew to our house roof and when I went out to see where he landed he saw me and flew away. The cat is really great at chasing him and it's so funny to see her running all poofed up after this big flying bird that she can never catch and if she did I don't think she'd like it one bit.
.

bullfrog wrote:




Or, you could just hire this man...

Never, never, never Bullfrog...........