Herons

"~ Windsong ~" P@P wrote in message
...

"kathy" wrote in message
oups.com...
Carol wrote #a whole lot of things,
debating each and every point of BV and mine
and jan's
=====================
Carol,
I'm very pleased nets work for you.
Really.
I just get tired of you always posting how every other
method won't work. They DO work. For some ponders.

## For *few* ponders. None that I ever knew. However I knew several
over
the years that spent a lot of time and money with sprayers, running wire
all
around their ponds, fake fish etc, (including myself, except the sprayer)
and the herons and King Fishers kept right on getting the fish. Perhaps
these things work in towns or in cities where these birds are rare to
start
with. But to post as though they do and WILL in general *work* is
misleading. Perhaps we should ask where the people are located who are
asking about herons.

I think Kathy is just saying there are options that work. For example, by
hooting, hollering, running, screaming, flapping my arms technique (patent
pending) has worked very well. No fish loss from Heron so far. Your Heron
and Kingfishers may be more persistent then mine. I have many ponds in yards
around me, so maybe they just other, quieter sources of food. Either way, my
solution has so far...worked very well.
snip

## How can they make an educated choice without hearing form those who
tried
these other methods and none worked long-term and why? Do you realize
some
people are blaming herons for taking fish when the problem is snakes or
frogs? We need to ask them if these predators are also in their pond. I
don't recall anyone asking them that question. Some people never see a
snake but suddenly find a shed skin near their pond. We can't assume
every
missing fish ended up dinner for some heron.
snip

True that. Last year, one of our Koi disappeared, plants knocked over and a
very racoon like scat was found on the edge of the pond. Dern Racoons. My
neighbor even mentioned to me he saw a racoon walking down the street
towards my house. He must have heard about the buffet. My fish will swim
into your hand if you sit there, so they are certainly dinner options for
animals.


--
BV
Webporgmaster of iheartmypond.com
http://www.iheartmypond.com
I'll be leaning on the bus stop post.

"Benign Vanilla" wrote in message
...

"~ Windsong ~" P@P wrote in message
...
----
I think Kathy is just saying there are options that work. For example, by
hooting, hollering, running, screaming, flapping my arms technique (patent
pending) has worked very well.

## So you stand outside or have someone stand outside from sunup to
sundown? We can't afford to pay someone to stay out there guarding our
ponds 7 days a week. In summer we often go away for weekends.

No fish loss from Heron so far. Your Heron
and Kingfishers may be more persistent then mine. I have many ponds in
yards
around me, so maybe they just other, quieter sources of food. Either way,
my
solution has so far...worked very well.
snip

## See above. We can't afford to hire a guard and we're not always home.
When we are, we are not at the windows watching for fish predators. I
would run out doing the screaming and flapping, with the 3 dogs no less - I
wrote about it here several years ago. At first it worked. They'd stay
away for a few days. Then, after awhile, a few weeks maybe, the herons
would fly into nearby trees until I went back inside. Within 15 minutes
they were fishing again. Yes, they were persistent. We often saw one
fishing in the ponds while another was up in a nearby tree. Or one was
behind the house fishing the kiddy pools. On one occasion there were three
in our yard.

## How can they make an educated choice without hearing form those who
tried
these other methods and none worked long-term and why? Do you realize
some
people are blaming herons for taking fish when the problem is snakes or
frogs? We need to ask them if these predators are also in their pond.
I
don't recall anyone asking them that question. Some people never see a
snake but suddenly find a shed skin near their pond. We can't assume
every
missing fish ended up dinner for some heron.
snip

True that. Last year, one of our Koi disappeared, plants knocked over and
a
very racoon like scat was found on the edge of the pond. Dern Racoons. My
neighbor even mentioned to me he saw a racoon walking down the street
towards my house. He must have heard about the buffet. My fish will swim
into your hand if you sit there, so they are certainly dinner options for
animals.

## Because of the dogs raccoons don't come into our yard. We have them as
well as deer, possums, skunks, red and blue fox, huge flocks of turkeys,
hawks......
--
Carol.... the frugal ponder...
"Eat Right, Exercise, Die Anyway."
~~~~~~~ }((((((o
http://www.heartoftn.net/users/windsong/index.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"~ Windsong ~" P@P wrote in message
...
snip
I think Kathy is just saying there are options that work. For example,
by
hooting, hollering, running, screaming, flapping my arms technique
(patent
pending) has worked very well.

## So you stand outside or have someone stand outside from sunup to
sundown? We can't afford to pay someone to stay out there guarding our
ponds 7 days a week. In summer we often go away for weekends.

No, but that's my point. We've done this I think a grand total of three
times, and Mr. Heron has not been back. No maybe that is because of the
weather, but maybe, just maybe it's because we made it an unfriendly place
for him. Or maybe MY heron hates idiots that shout at him. I dunno. I am not
saying I have found the magic cure for Herons, but I have kept that one
away.

As for the summer, we go away a lot as well. So far this has not been a
problem.

No fish loss from Heron so far. Your Heron
and Kingfishers may be more persistent then mine. I have many ponds in
yards
around me, so maybe they just other, quieter sources of food. Either
way,
my
solution has so far...worked very well.
snip

## See above. We can't afford to hire a guard and we're not always home.
When we are, we are not at the windows watching for fish predators. I
would run out doing the screaming and flapping, with the 3 dogs no less -
I
wrote about it here several years ago. At first it worked. They'd stay
away for a few days. Then, after awhile, a few weeks maybe, the herons
would fly into nearby trees until I went back inside. Within 15 minutes
they were fishing again. Yes, they were persistent. We often saw one
fishing in the ponds while another was up in a nearby tree. Or one was
behind the house fishing the kiddy pools. On one occasion there were
three
in our yard.

I've never seen such a Heron problem. You should probably net your pond, and
stop inviting Alfred Hitchcock over for dinner.

snip
True that. Last year, one of our Koi disappeared, plants knocked over
and
a
very racoon like scat was found on the edge of the pond. Dern Racoons.
My
neighbor even mentioned to me he saw a racoon walking down the street
towards my house. He must have heard about the buffet. My fish will swim
into your hand if you sit there, so they are certainly dinner options
for
animals.

## Because of the dogs raccoons don't come into our yard. We have them as
well as deer, possums, skunks, red and blue fox, huge flocks of turkeys,
hawks......

We've got hawks, falcons, racoons, skunks, fox, neighbor cats, my cat, my
dog, more frogs then I can count, and periodically a snake or two. Oh and
there was that kanagaroo looking mouse thing in Novemeber.


--
BV
Webporgmaster of iheartmypond.com
http://www.iheartmypond.com
I'll be leaning on the bus stop post.

"Benign Vanilla" wrote in message
...

"~ Windsong ~" P@P wrote in message
...
snip
I think Kathy is just saying there are options that work. For example,
by
hooting, hollering, running, screaming, flapping my arms technique
(patent
pending) has worked very well.

## So you stand outside or have someone stand outside from sunup to
sundown? We can't afford to pay someone to stay out there guarding our
ponds 7 days a week. In summer we often go away for weekends.
============
No, but that's my point. We've done this I think a grand total of three
times, and Mr. Heron has not been back. No maybe that is because of the
weather, but maybe, just maybe it's because we made it an unfriendly place
for him.

## I see. I did the same thing with a broom and 3 dogs and the damn herons
would simply fly up into the nearby trees and wait for me to go bake in the
house. You are very fortunate to have scared them off in only 3 tries.

Or maybe MY heron hates idiots that shout at him. I dunno. I am not
saying I have found the magic cure for Herons, but I have kept that one
away.
As for the summer, we go away a lot as well. So far this has not been a
problem.

## Then you must have very few herons where you live.

I've never seen such a Heron problem. You should probably net your pond,
and
stop inviting Alfred Hitchcock over for dinner.

## I never knew this was so unusual. So many people I knew with pondsa also
had heron problems. But we live about 1/2 mile from Percy Priest Lake.
I've learned there are loads of herons and cranes there. Also canadian
geese and all kinds of ducks.

We've got hawks, falcons, racoons, skunks, fox, neighbor cats, my cat, my
dog, more frogs then I can count, and periodically a snake or two. Oh and
there was that kanagaroo looking mouse thing in Novemeber.

## We have neighbor's cats here as well, but we never saw them trying to
catch fish or even near the ponds.
--
Carol.... the frugal ponder...
"Eat Right, Exercise, Die Anyway."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We had taken the scarecrow down for the winter and today
a great blue heron visited the pond. Dh chased it off
before it had a chance to catch a fish. The weather is
warm today but that is supposed to change tonight.
Hopefully we'll have a nice layer of ice on the pond soon.
The koi are deep but the goldfish are still up near the surface.
--
Bonnie
NJ