[GSAS-Member] great blue heron

["Betty Goetz" <haika@drizzle.com>]

I may be adult goldfish-less. All it took was one great blue heron. My
neighbors told me they saw it arrive on Friday, sit on my porch railing
for 1/2 hour, and then an hour later fly up from under my deck to my roof
where it sat for another hour. This was while I was at work. On Friday
evening, I noticed that nothing came up for food, but I figured since it
was cool and wet, they were too cold to be hungry so I simply netted the
food and tossed it back over the fence to the poultry. Then on Saturday I
saw a GBH stalk by UNDER the upstairs deck checking out my live culture
tubs. My deck extends out roughly 15-20' and this heron was only 8' or so
from my slider...I NEVER thought a heron would come under the deck to
steal goldfish! But I netted both my whiskey-barrel sized tubs and found
no adults...although I did net fry from both of the shubunkin ponds. My
Rubbermaid stock tanks are iffy....I've seen the waterlilies move like
fish are swimming deep below but nothing comes to the surface. I haven't
seen Trish's sarassas either...although they may be hanging out in the
brick pile which is where they stayed for several days when newly
introduced to the tank. They never were really keen on coming up to the
surface, so I'll be really shocked if the heron got these guys. But I
haven't seen them since Friday morning. Both the 100 and 150g tanks are
too large for me to net and so who knows. All my ponds are now covered
with dog crate wire floor grates (they are sturdy and easy to remove and
replace). I hadn't used them this year because Adak wasn't pulling out the
parrotfeather and strewing it all over the patio any longer (weak grin). I
never ever thought a GBH would predate so close to the house...live and
learn and warning to the rest of you with patio/deck/porch ponds (weak
grin). I'm really bummed......

I've got 7 fry so far from shubunkin ponds....plus a number of koi fry
from Steev's contest. So...at least I've got something to rear to replace
the 17 potential lost beauties.

By the way, the GBH has returned every day since the 'hunt'

Betty Goetz

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