Heron visiting my pond

I thought this might happen sooner or later, given my rural location. My son photographed a blue heron scoping out my pond a couple of days ago. I posted three pictures at http://tinyurl.com/5vtng. Look at the last three photos, named Heron1,2 & 3.

The question now is what can I do to discourage the heron and still keep fish and maintain the esthetics of my pond. It looks like my 4 koi have stayed deep enough to stay out of his reach, so far. I have laid some chicken wire fencing over part of the pond for now but need a permanent solution. Should I put up a low electric fence so that he gets shocked when he approaches the edge?

I suspect he will keep returning, now that he knows the fish are there.

Scott M.
Ottawa, Ontario

Scott M. wrote:

I thought this might happen sooner or later, given my rural location.
My son photographed a blue heron scoping out my pond a couple of days
ago. I posted three pictures at http://tinyurl.com/5vtng. Look at the
last three photos, named Heron1,2 & 3.

The question now is what can I do to discourage the heron and still
keep fish and maintain the esthetics of my pond. It looks like my 4
koi have stayed deep enough to stay out of his reach, so far. I have
laid some chicken wire fencing over part of the pond for now but need
a permanent solution. Should I put up a low electric fence so that he
gets shocked when he approaches the edge?

I suspect he will keep returning, now that he knows the fish are there.

Scott M.
Ottawa, Ontario



You can try the electric fence, get a fake heron or try the fishing line method around the pond. He definitly will return in my large pond 1/3+ acre I never had great blues in 3 years now this year I have seen 3 different bird at it but never 2 at the same time. I use kids and the dogs to chase them off.

Bob

Tips for herons, egrets and other fishing birds:
- bird netting over the pond, usually the quickest method
- put in an pond shock fence, lays out over the water at the edge
- a motion activated sprinkler
(go to froogle.com to find these products and different vendors
and prices)
- Migratory Bird Act forbids lethal methods,
heavy fines and jail time take away from pond time ;-)

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

I'll look them up. Thanks. I would never kill the bird. They are so
beautiful. In my neighbourhood we have plenty of deer, black bear,
porcupines, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks and other assorted
critters. I had been suspecting raccoons of getting into the pond and
knocking over rocks and plants, but now I know about the heron. The raccoon
goes for easier meals in my garbage cans.

Scott



"Ka30P" wrote in message
...
Tips for herons, egrets and other fishing birds:
- bird netting over the pond, usually the quickest method
- put in an pond shock fence, lays out over the water at the edge
- a motion activated sprinkler
(go to froogle.com to find these products and different vendors
and prices)
- Migratory Bird Act forbids lethal methods,
heavy fines and jail time take away from pond time ;-)

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

Herons don't tip over plants, that the raccoons, imo. If neither has
captured a meal at your pond, repelling will be much easier. I use a motion
sprinkler on both my ponds, started using one when a raccoon made a huge
mess out of mine. It didn't catch any, but scratches were evident on my
biggest fish sides and shredding of the tail when it got away. The
sprinkler was hooked up before its return (assuming it did return) and I've
never had a problem since.

I had the motion sprinkler on a water timer so only had to worry about it
if I got up really early or went out really late (a rare thing on both
counts). Then last summer a neighbor called to tell me a big bird was on my
roof. This was around noon, so now it is on 24/7 and we're all trained
(from wet experience) to turn it off and on (notes on the door in and out
help) as we come and go.

Your pond is very pretty, amazing how that heron blends right in, except
around the swimming pool, may need a sprinkler there while the kids are
swimming if it is as ambitious as my raccoon that thought it could catch a
24" butterfly koi. ;o)

http://www.km01.com/index.html has them for $53.95 out of Oregon, no sales
tax, and very fast shipping (at least to Washington). ;o) ~ jan

On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 13:03:43 -0400, "Scott M." wrote:

I'll look them up. Thanks. I would never kill the bird. They are so
beautiful. In my neighbourhood we have plenty of deer, black bear,
porcupines, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks and other assorted
critters. I had been suspecting raccoons of getting into the pond and
knocking over rocks and plants, but now I know about the heron. The raccoon
goes for easier meals in my garbage cans.

Scott



"Ka30P" wrote in message
...
Tips for herons, egrets and other fishing birds:
- bird netting over the pond, usually the quickest method
- put in an pond shock fence, lays out over the water at the edge
- a motion activated sprinkler
(go to froogle.com to find these products and different vendors
and prices)
- Migratory Bird Act forbids lethal methods,
heavy fines and jail time take away from pond time ;-)

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


~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

Thanks for the idea for the sprinkler. Lee Valley Tools in Ottawa sells
them. I'll go there to check it out.

Scott M.

"~ jan JJsPond.us" wrote in message
...
Herons don't tip over plants, that the raccoons, imo. If neither has
captured a meal at your pond, repelling will be much easier. I use a
motion
sprinkler on both my ponds, started using one when a raccoon made a huge
mess out of mine. It didn't catch any, but scratches were evident on my
biggest fish sides and shredding of the tail when it got away. The
sprinkler was hooked up before its return (assuming it did return) and
I've
never had a problem since.

I had the motion sprinkler on a water timer so only had to worry about it
if I got up really early or went out really late (a rare thing on both
counts). Then last summer a neighbor called to tell me a big bird was on
my
roof. This was around noon, so now it is on 24/7 and we're all trained
(from wet experience) to turn it off and on (notes on the door in and out
help) as we come and go.

Your pond is very pretty, amazing how that heron blends right in, except
around the swimming pool, may need a sprinkler there while the kids are
swimming if it is as ambitious as my raccoon that thought it could catch a
24" butterfly koi. ;o)

http://www.km01.com/index.html has them for $53.95 out of Oregon, no sales
tax, and very fast shipping (at least to Washington). ;o) ~ jan

On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 13:03:43 -0400, "Scott M."
wrote:

I'll look them up. Thanks. I would never kill the bird. They are so
beautiful. In my neighbourhood we have plenty of deer, black bear,
porcupines, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks and other assorted
critters. I had been suspecting raccoons of getting into the pond and
knocking over rocks and plants, but now I know about the heron. The
raccoon
goes for easier meals in my garbage cans.

Scott



"Ka30P" wrote in message
...
Tips for herons, egrets and other fishing birds:
- bird netting over the pond, usually the quickest method
- put in an pond shock fence, lays out over the water at the edge
- a motion activated sprinkler
(go to froogle.com to find these products and different vendors
and prices)
- Migratory Bird Act forbids lethal methods,
heavy fines and jail time take away from pond time ;-)

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


~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

"Scott M." wrote in message ...
I'll look them up. Thanks. I would never kill the bird. They are so
beautiful. In my neighbourhood we have plenty of deer, black bear,
porcupines, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks and other assorted
critters. I had been suspecting raccoons of getting into the pond and
knocking over rocks and plants, but now I know about the heron. The raccoon
goes for easier meals in my garbage cans.

Scott

Hi Scott, if canada411 is correct, you're out in Carp (Good grief:
bears, that close?!). I'm not too far away, in Kanata. We've had a
heron once that we know of, a couple of years back. Then this spring,
*something* knocked over some pots and took a koi, probably during a
Saturday morning. I suspect a heron, although we also frequently get
raccoons -- but never during the day. It's amazing the wildlife that
hangs on, even in deepest darkest suburbia. We got a floating
reflector, and let the hornwort grow over everything, and haven't lost
anything else (that we've noticed). Putting up bird netting would be
a real pain.....

-- Kizhe

"Ka30P" wrote in message
...
Tips for herons, egrets and other fishing birds:
- bird netting over the pond, usually the quickest method
- put in an pond shock fence, lays out over the water at the edge
- a motion activated sprinkler
(go to froogle.com to find these products and different vendors
and prices)
- Migratory Bird Act forbids lethal methods,
heavy fines and jail time take away from pond time ;-)

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

I'll look into finding a fake heron and I don't know what the fishing line
method is, but I assume it is to string trip wires around the pond using
invisible fishing line to **** him off. Troube is, I like to sit by the pond
and maintain it also, so I don't want to trap myself.

Scott


"Bob Koerber" wrote in message
...
Scott M. wrote:

I thought this might happen sooner or later, given my rural location.
My son photographed a blue heron scoping out my pond a couple of days
ago. I posted three pictures at http://tinyurl.com/5vtng. Look at the
last three photos, named Heron1,2 & 3.

The question now is what can I do to discourage the heron and still
keep fish and maintain the esthetics of my pond. It looks like my 4
koi have stayed deep enough to stay out of his reach, so far. I have
laid some chicken wire fencing over part of the pond for now but need
a permanent solution. Should I put up a low electric fence so that he
gets shocked when he approaches the edge?

I suspect he will keep returning, now that he knows the fish are there.

Scott M.
Ottawa, Ontario



You can try the electric fence, get a fake heron or try the fishing line
method around the pond. He definitly will return in my large pond 1/3+ acre
I never had great blues in 3 years now this year I have seen 3 different
bird at it but never 2 at the same time. I use kids and the dogs to chase
them off.

Bob

"Scott M." wrote in message
...
I'll look into finding a fake heron and I don't know what the fishing line
method is, but I assume it is to string trip wires around the pond using
invisible fishing line to **** him off. Troube is, I like to sit by the
pond
and maintain it also, so I don't want to trap myself.
====================================
Keep in mind these triplines will not keep the other predators away, such as
snakes and bullfrogs.
--
Carol.... the frugal ponder...
"If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried
before."
~~~~~~{@
"They laugh because I'm different, I laugh because they're all the same."
http://www.heartoftn.net/users/windsong/index.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He is one bold bird. I love the setting of your pond, its so rustic looking.
Beautiful!!
Jan
"Our Pond" Page
http://hometown.aol.com/pinkpggy/index.html