Help! Blue Heron eating all of my fish!

After ten years of water gardening I never had a predator invade my pond
until now! I was recently married and moved my pond to my new home last
fall and our lot borders a creek with a natural pond about 200 feet away
from our house in the woods. We frequently see Blue Herons overhead and
enjoy the sight of them, until this morning when I got up close and personal
with one. I had sixteen big lovely goldfish that I have had for about the
entire length of time I have been water gardening. My husband went out the
other day and noticed orange scales along the edge of the pond and four fish
were missing! I immediately thought, raccoon! But this morning as I was
getting ready for church I looked out of the bedroom window to see a Blue
Heron approaching the pond! Is there any other way to deter them other than
a net over the pond? I thought maybe taking their food supply away for a
week may send them fishing elsewhere, but I suppose as they are flying by if
they look down and see the fish again, they would be back. I was going to
put the fish in a "holding" tank in the garage. Any suggestions on how to
deal with these guys? My fish are like pets to me. They swim and belly rub
right into my hand and I would like to avoid loosing anymore of them if
possible

Thanks,
Lisa

Tips for herons, egrets and other fishing birds:
- bird netting over the pond - usually the best method.
- put in an pond shock fence. lays over the water at the edge
- a motion activated sprinkler
(go to froogle.com to find these products)
- 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

"Lisa" writes:

After ten years of water gardening I never had a predator invade my pond
until now!

Same here.

Any suggestions on how to
deal with these guys? My fish are like pets to me. They swim and belly rub
right into my hand and I would like to avoid loosing anymore of them if
possible

A net is nowhere near as bad as I thought it'd be. People miss seeing it
from my deck 10 feet away. And cheap too. Seems to stop raccoons as well
(which suprises me, the nets are fragile).

$7 for 7'x21' at any hardware/garden store.

The same thing happened to me several weeks ago. A heron got several
of my 10-year-old goldfish. I understand that this is a natural thing
for a heron to do, but nevertheless, I hated losing my fish! The
remaining fish were spooky for a few weeks after their traumatic
encounter, but now they are back to behaving normally. I put some
chicken wire over the pond for about 3 weeks after the heron visit.
Unsightly, but it did the trick. After the water lilies covered most
of the surface of the pond, I took the wire off. Haven't seen any
sign of the heron revisiting, but I will probably have to put the wire
back on this fall after the vegetation dies back. They say herons
will return and continue eating fish until they are all gone. There
are a lot of ideas out there about preventing heron from getting fish.
The only thing I've tried is a physical barrier, but unfortunately,
it rates high on the ugly-scale.
Gary

yes, chicken wire would certainly rate high on the uggg scale. but fine bird netting
doesnt because it is very dark and it does disappears soon after you put it on.
IT IS CHEAP ENOUGH TO TRY at least. you can always toss it if it is really that
objectionable. Ingrid

(Gary) wrote:

The same thing happened to me several weeks ago. A heron got several
of my 10-year-old goldfish. I understand that this is a natural thing
for a heron to do, but nevertheless, I hated losing my fish! The
remaining fish were spooky for a few weeks after their traumatic
encounter, but now they are back to behaving normally. I put some
chicken wire over the pond for about 3 weeks after the heron visit.
Unsightly, but it did the trick. After the water lilies covered most
of the surface of the pond, I took the wire off. Haven't seen any
sign of the heron revisiting, but I will probably have to put the wire
back on this fall after the vegetation dies back. They say herons
will return and continue eating fish until they are all gone. There
are a lot of ideas out there about preventing heron from getting fish.
The only thing I've tried is a physical barrier, but unfortunately,
it rates high on the ugly-scale.
Gary



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

We have occasional herons and they do eat some goldfish. When we
reconstructed the pond we made steep drop offs which herons do not
like. That helped. Raccoons, snapping turtles and water snakes are
a problem. We occasionally add feeder goldfish at 10 cents
apiece--much cheaper heron food than koi !

Herons are good at remembering the location of their fishing holes.

wrote in message ...
yes, chicken wire would certainly rate high on the uggg scale. but fine bird netting
doesnt because it is very dark and it does disappears soon after you put it on.
IT IS CHEAP ENOUGH TO TRY at least. you can always toss it if it is really that
objectionable. Ingrid

I'll try the bird netting. I just happened to have some chicken wire
on hand, but the bird netting certainly sounds like a more aesthetic
solution!
Thanks, Ingrid.
Gary

herons can and do plunk right into lakes and paddle around eating fish. steep drop
offs are good for keeping raccoons from getting to the fish (as long as the fish dont
swim up to them) but not for herons. Ingrid

Phisherman wrote:

We have occasional herons and they do eat some goldfish. When we
reconstructed the pond we made steep drop offs which herons do not
like. That helped. Raccoons, snapping turtles and water snakes are
a problem. We occasionally add feeder goldfish at 10 cents
apiece--much cheaper heron food than koi !

Herons are good at remembering the location of their fishing holes.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

I went with the pond netting. But it does take away from the ambiance of
the pond just a bit. I have to lift it off to hand-feed my fish. I was
thinking of taking it off the other day and have occasionally pulled it back
to expose the pond while I am home and out in the yard, but my husband went
outdoors the other day and heard the flapping of large wings. He turned to
look up and behind him and there was the heron perched on our roof above the
backyard! So, he is still "stalking" my pond waiting for his next
opportunity! It must be an easy meal for him as there are so many little
ponds and creeks around here it is surprising that he would venture into
such a populated area to feed. I was going to research their habits to see
if they migrate. I hope they do! The sooner the better!

Thanks for all of the suggestions!

Lisa
----- Original Message -----
From:
Newsgroups: rec.ponds
Sent: Monday, June 28, 2004 12:17 AM
Subject: Help! Blue Heron eating all of my fish!


yes, chicken wire would certainly rate high on the uggg scale. but fine
bird netting
doesnt because it is very dark and it does disappears soon after you put
it on.
IT IS CHEAP ENOUGH TO TRY at least. you can always toss it if it is
really that
objectionable. Ingrid

(Gary) wrote:

The same thing happened to me several weeks ago. A heron got several
of my 10-year-old goldfish. I understand that this is a natural thing
for a heron to do, but nevertheless, I hated losing my fish! The
remaining fish were spooky for a few weeks after their traumatic
encounter, but now they are back to behaving normally. I put some
chicken wire over the pond for about 3 weeks after the heron visit.
Unsightly, but it did the trick. After the water lilies covered most
of the surface of the pond, I took the wire off. Haven't seen any
sign of the heron revisiting, but I will probably have to put the wire
back on this fall after the vegetation dies back. They say herons
will return and continue eating fish until they are all gone. There
are a lot of ideas out there about preventing heron from getting fish.
The only thing I've tried is a physical barrier, but unfortunately,
it rates high on the ugly-scale.
Gary



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

Hi Lisa,

I think I remember that you are in the Bay Area? Then I'm betting these herons
don't migrate are your climate is too mild.
Here in SE WA, zone 7, our herons are year round. We have big rivers that stay
ice free all winter. Some populations do migrate but coastal regions tend to
keep their herons all year round.

If you still don't like the netting you can try the scarecrow sprinkler that is
motion activated. Put it up close enough and it might knock him off his feet.
Just remember to turn it off when you want to visit the pond ;-)




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