Re: [GSAS-Member] great blue heron

[Steev Ward <steevward@yahoo.com>]

Betty-
I can't believe the nerve of those things.
Once he makes you a stop on his regular route it will be hard to drive him away,
especially if he got a few fish. But they do sit and watch for a long time 
before they
move in for the kill. I think the best thing to do right now is to start 
stringing
fishing line all over the place so that he will be afraid of getting trapped. 
You don't
want the dogs to get tangled in though.
Maybe the fish got wise after his first attempts and they are ... some of them 
.. still
hiding. Maybe.

Steev


--- Betty Goetz <haika@drizzle.com> wrote:

> 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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