Recovery from Heron Attack???

Yesterday, I made the sad discovery that my goldfish suffered a
probable heron attack. It looks like the heron got about half of my
30+ goldfish. The survivors are all spooked (naturally) and won't
even come up for food. Some have scrape marks on their bodies where
it looks like they escaped the heron's bill. I had a heron around
here a couple of years ago, so I put chicken wire over the pond for a
couple of weeks. This discouraged the heron and he gave up and didn't
return ---- that is, until yesterday (not sure if it was even the same
bird - probably not). Anyway, too little & too late, I put the wire
back up to protect the remaining fish.
My question - Assuming that I can ward off further attacks, will my
fish return to their old behavior of coming up for food, eating out of
my hand, etc., or will they have the fish equivalent of
"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder" for the rest of their lives? Anyone
know how long it might take for the fish to get back to normal? I
also heard that sometimes when aquariums are attacked (e.g. by a cat)
the surviving fish sometimes just shut down and die (probably from
stress). Hope that doesn't happen to my pond fish. They are just
10-cent feeder goldfish that I've managed to keep alive and healthy
for about 10 years, but I hate to lose them just the same. I also
realize that it's natural for herons to eat fish so I wouldn't want to
harm the bird, even though it's on my s---list right now! (That would
be like someone throwing rocks at me everytime I went to the
refrigerator!)
I'm trying to gradually get the fish used to me being around them
again by making frequent, short appearances at the pond, being quiet
so as not to spook them, and offering them small amounts of fish food
several times a day.
Would appreciate any ideas anyone might have recovery from attack.
Thanks,
Gary

My condolences. I've been visited by the big blue bird before as well.

Your fish WILL get over it. Not too worry. FWIW, I don't put netting over my
pond, but I do use a scarecrow. Knock on wood, I haven't lost a fish yet
(when it was on!)

Joe


On 5/14/04 3:28 PM, "Gary" wrote:

Yesterday, I made the sad discovery that my goldfish suffered a
probable heron attack. It looks like the heron got about half of my
30+ goldfish. The survivors are all spooked (naturally) and won't
even come up for food. Some have scrape marks on their bodies where
it looks like they escaped the heron's bill. I had a heron around
here a couple of years ago, so I put chicken wire over the pond for a
couple of weeks. This discouraged the heron and he gave up and didn't
return ---- that is, until yesterday (not sure if it was even the same
bird - probably not). Anyway, too little & too late, I put the wire
back up to protect the remaining fish.
My question - Assuming that I can ward off further attacks, will my
fish return to their old behavior of coming up for food, eating out of
my hand, etc., or will they have the fish equivalent of
"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder" for the rest of their lives? Anyone
know how long it might take for the fish to get back to normal? I
also heard that sometimes when aquariums are attacked (e.g. by a cat)
the surviving fish sometimes just shut down and die (probably from
stress). Hope that doesn't happen to my pond fish. They are just
10-cent feeder goldfish that I've managed to keep alive and healthy
for about 10 years, but I hate to lose them just the same. I also
realize that it's natural for herons to eat fish so I wouldn't want to
harm the bird, even though it's on my s---list right now! (That would
be like someone throwing rocks at me everytime I went to the
refrigerator!)
I'm trying to gradually get the fish used to me being around them
again by making frequent, short appearances at the pond, being quiet
so as not to spook them, and offering them small amounts of fish food
several times a day.
Would appreciate any ideas anyone might have recovery from attack.
Thanks,
Gary



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My uncle's pond was attacked too. If I stood on the side that the Heron
stood, all the fish would hide. They haven't recovered.

My Koi were attacked when they were in an aquarium. They would hide when I
came to feed. Now that they're in the pond, they would bump into my hands
when I fix the plants.

If your fish has severe PTSD, try relocating them to temporary location?

Gary wrote:

Yesterday, I made the sad discovery that my goldfish suffered a
probable heron attack. It looks like the heron got about half of my
30+ goldfish. The survivors are all spooked (naturally) and won't
even come up for food. Some have scrape marks on their bodies where
it looks like they escaped the heron's bill. I had a heron around
here a couple of years ago, so I put chicken wire over the pond for a
couple of weeks. This discouraged the heron and he gave up and didn't
return ---- that is, until yesterday (not sure if it was even the same
bird - probably not). Anyway, too little & too late, I put the wire
back up to protect the remaining fish.
My question - Assuming that I can ward off further attacks, will my
fish return to their old behavior of coming up for food, eating out of
my hand, etc., or will they have the fish equivalent of
"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder" for the rest of their lives? Anyone
know how long it might take for the fish to get back to normal? I
also heard that sometimes when aquariums are attacked (e.g. by a cat)
the surviving fish sometimes just shut down and die (probably from
stress). Hope that doesn't happen to my pond fish. They are just
10-cent feeder goldfish that I've managed to keep alive and healthy
for about 10 years, but I hate to lose them just the same. I also
realize that it's natural for herons to eat fish so I wouldn't want to
harm the bird, even though it's on my s---list right now! (That would
be like someone throwing rocks at me everytime I went to the
refrigerator!)
I'm trying to gradually get the fish used to me being around them
again by making frequent, short appearances at the pond, being quiet
so as not to spook them, and offering them small amounts of fish food
several times a day.
Would appreciate any ideas anyone might have recovery from attack.
Thanks,
Gary

"Gary" wrote in message
om...
Yesterday, I made the sad discovery that my goldfish suffered a
probable heron attack. It looks like the heron got about half of my
30+ goldfish. The survivors are all spooked (naturally) and won't
even come up for food. Some have scrape marks on their bodies where
it looks like they escaped the heron's bill. I had a heron around
here a couple of years ago, so I put chicken wire over the pond for a
couple of weeks. This discouraged the heron and he gave up and didn't
return ---- that is, until yesterday (not sure if it was even the same
bird - probably not). Anyway, too little & too late, I put the wire
back up to protect the remaining fish.

** We have to keep bird netting over our ponds or wouldn't have one fish
left. The herons do keep coming back and will come back until your pond is
cleaned out completely. Snakes, mud turtles, and bullfrogs also feed on
fish.

My question - Assuming that I can ward off further attacks, will my
fish return to their old behavior of coming up for food, eating out of
my hand, etc., or will they have the fish equivalent of
"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder" for the rest of their lives?

** In time they forget the attack and return to normal - or mine did (after
a week or so.)

Anyone
know how long it might take for the fish to get back to normal? I
also heard that sometimes when aquariums are attacked (e.g. by a cat)
the surviving fish sometimes just shut down and die (probably from
stress). Hope that doesn't happen to my pond fish. They are just
10-cent feeder goldfish that I've managed to keep alive and healthy
for about 10 years, but I hate to lose them just the same. I also
realize that it's natural for herons to eat fish so I wouldn't want to
harm the bird, even though it's on my s---list right now! (That would
be like someone throwing rocks at me everytime I went to the
refrigerator!)

** Get that tough fine black bird netting at Ace Hardware. It works great
and is not expensive.

I'm trying to gradually get the fish used to me being around them
again by making frequent, short appearances at the pond, being quiet
so as not to spook them, and offering them small amounts of fish food
several times a day.
Would appreciate any ideas anyone might have recovery from attack.
Thanks,
Gary
--
Carol....
"A closed mouth gathers no feet."
http://www.heartoftn.net/users/windsong/index.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I also have a population of former feeder goldfish I have had for 15 or so
years. I had a heron attack about 3 years ago that cut the number to about
10% of former times, and took mainly the bigger fish. The goldfish took a
month (what was left of them) to recover their former behavior.

Have your goldfish developed interesting genetic modifications? I have
colors ranging from nearly white to very dark greenish gold and almost
black, and all kinds of fancy finnage.


"Gary" wrote in message
om...
Yesterday, I made the sad discovery that my goldfish suffered a
probable heron attack. It looks like the heron got about half of my
30+ goldfish. The survivors are all spooked (naturally) and won't
even come up for food.

I also had a heron attack last year, the *^#@! bird got 12 or so of my
biggest gold fish and 3 frogs. I went to Lowes and bought a Regent
digital wireless motion activated alarm. The receiver part has a
receptacle to plug in a lamp or what ever. I put it in a zip lock bag to
seal it from the weather. I bought a party strobe and put it in a large
zip lock bag and plugged it in to the recipatical of the unit. I aimed
the motion sensor at the pond. Now when anything goes near my pond you
hear a door bell sound and a bright strobe light goes off. I cover the
motion sensor with foil when I am out by the pond to keep the strobe
off. This has worked well for me but don't forget to take the foil off
when you go in or the *^#+@! bird will come to see you again. Also be
sure to keep the receiver unit as water tight as you can as it is made
for indoors hence the zip lock bags and tape.for both strobe and unit.
Steve

Now seems like a good time to post heron
hints for new ponders checking out this
thread.....

Tips for herons, egrets and other fishing birds:
- netting over the pond
- chimney flue in the bottom of the pond for fish
to hide in and feel safe
- put in an electric fido shock fence
- a motion activated sprinkler
- Migratory Bird Act forbids lethal methods,
heavy fines and jail time take away from pond time ;-)


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

Thanks, everyone, for your comments and great suggestions. The
chicken wire is just a temporary measure(effective, but a high
ugliness factor), so I will need to give some careful thought to the
options for a more permanent solution.
BTW, I'm surprised that, today, the fish are beginning to come back up
to the top to check me out when I approach and to eat again. That's
encouraging!

Sean - over the years my fish have developed some interesting colors
and finnage. I don't have any black ones, but several mottled
white/orange ones, yellow/gold ones, some totally white, some intense,
deep orange. As far as fins go, again, lots of variety. One has very
short fins (looks like he has a crew-cut - so I call him "Butch")
while others have very long, flowing tails and fins, like "Rapunzel"
and "Lady Godiva." Some of them have tails that are considerably
longer than their bodies. The young ones are usually black but they
dont stay that color after they get big enough to defend themselves.

Gary

Does anyone know how many fish and how big a fish herons will eat? We
have a 1/2 acre pond ,20 years old that we stocked with bluegills and
bass. For years we could catch as many as we wanted at any time. This
year I have fished twice for an hour or so, and have caught nothing but
2 4-5" bullheads. We have never caught a bullhead in 20 years. We have
herons at the pond several times a day. Where have all the
bluegills/bass gone? I have never seen a dead fish inthe pond. The deep
end is 10-12 feet. There seems to be more algae than normal. The bottom
is all marl. Thanks for any thoughts you might have. We are inMichigan.
Steve

A couple thoughts -
How was your last winter? Fish could have died and been consumed by the
bullheads since dead critters are part of their diet.
Could you, or someone else, overfished the pond?

Herons usually hunt in the shallows by stalking and stealth. In addition to
fish they take frogs, tadpoles, salamanders, newts and large aquatic insects
out of a pond. If they are feeding a nest full of young they will be catching
more than they, themselves, need.


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A