Re: [GSAS-Member] great blue heron

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

Better news than I expected....there are still 3/5 goldfish (common
comets-2 white/1 orange) in one of my whiskey barrel-sized ponds and at
least one shubunkin (one from the goldfish/pond rescue Meredith & I did
last year). There may be more. I netted both those tubs without success so
those fish are REALLY in survival mode!

Still nothing obvious in my 2 large stock tanks. I did see the waterlilies
move a couple days ago like a big fish was way down deep but nothing
since. I put a little teeny bit of floating pellet food in both stock
tanks yesterday morning....the shubunkin tank still had floating food when
I got home after work but the sarasa tank didn't. Hmmmmmm.....fingers
crossed more goldfish appear!

As I was leaving home late this morning guess what flew over my house from
the southwest! Looked like he landed in the backyard so I snuck back
inside to see if I could spy on him. All the ponds SHOULD be protected
now....anyway, didn't see him. We had a family get-together last night and
we talked about solutions. I've got lots of biologist types in the family.
Anyway, they suggested a decoy of an adult bald eagle, which is apparently
an important GBH predator. Hmmmmm.....

Betty Goetz

> Oh Betty-
> I am so sorry!!! Hey he has to eat too....but it is frustrating....I hope
> the wire grate works, I am sure it will be to heavy for him to move, and
> to much work to try and get inbetween...he would be to obvious with
> getting fish.....they are so sneaky!
>
> With your dogs around, I think they will keep him at bay....I know ours
> are good hunters, they have even caught crows.....and killed them, and our
> dogs are only about 18 to 24 pounds, so not very big....
>
> Keep us posted....maybe even attach something shiny to the crates, as most
> bids dont like that, from what I hear.....foil or something.
>
> Trish
>
>
> --- On Mon, 8/4/08, Betty Goetz <haika@drizzle.com> wrote:
>
>> From: Betty Goetz <haika@drizzle.com>
>> Subject: [GSAS-Member] great blue heron
>> To: "Greater Seattle Aquarium Society member chat"
>> <gsas-member@thekrib.com>
>> Date: Monday, August 4, 2008, 9:08 AM
>> 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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>
>
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