Just had a heron visit my pond and he was all white. He flew with his head pulled in, looked like a pelican, and I was just wondering what type of heron this is? Also, how much damage can this guy do to my 3/4 acre pond? I want him gone, but the wife likes the idea of having his occasional visit. Thanks.
Sounds like an egret to me.
I'm with Mark. I don't know if Egrets fly with their necks tucked the same way, but I've always thought they looked like white Herons.
My money's also on the
Snowy Egret http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i1970id.html though it could be a lost
Great White Heron http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art16803.asp but they don't usually venture up north.
I had two white egrets breifly visit my trout pond last year here in northern Indiana. A local retired naturalist who writes an outdoor column tells me the egrets are workng their way farther north each year. I guess it has something to do with our warming climate.
Did you guys know that the inuits of the artic circle are seeing wildlife now that they have no name for in their vocabulary? One example is they are now seeing robins and they have no name for robins.
As far as harm to your pond as long as it's a recreational pond and you don't have high fish densities as in fish farmer you're probably O.K.. However if it was me me I would discourage him every time he shows up. He may be passing through like the two that visited my pond.
Thanks everyone. I'm betting on the egret now after looking at the pictures. Not sure if his legs were black though, I thought they were yellow. If I get another look I'll let you know. Thanks again!
If he was smaller than a Great Blue Heron but otherwise looked the same it may have been a Little Blue Heron. The immature birds are all white. They are roughly half the size of the Great Blue.
Tarpon, after writing this reply I saw that you are from Mt. Pleasant. The strange thing is that I was down at my pond Sunday night and saw a white bird coming across the water and thought it was a gull. He came straight to me until I moved and he flared at about 10 yards. I got a real good look at him and it was definitely a heron (all white). I looked him up in Peterson and didn't think that he fit the description of the egrets and didn't see the Little Blue Heron the first time I checked. When I checked again, I was pretty sure that it had to be a Little Blue. The strange thing is that they would be way out of their range in Michigan.
The water turkeys must be passing the word that the fishings good up north. Thats all we need are more fish eating birds. My bass are pretty scared up right now.
I'm new to this forum and to pond management but I couldn't help but reply to this one since I have many blue herons in my area and have for the past 3 years been able to almost completely keep them off my pond. I don't know what is doing it other than every time I see one I fire a load of shotgun pellets over their heads. It seems that all it takes is once or twice and they never come back. Mind you that they are still around, I see them flying over several times a day but they never land in my pond. I keep careful watch every morning before work and every night so that I can chase them away if needed. I suppose it also could be the aerators that scare them off but I only run them for 4 hours in the afternoon. I generally have one or two begin visiting my pond in the spring when they are moving north then after a few blasts they never come back until next year. I've never seen a bluegill damaged by a heron but I have a problem with the white parasites they bring into the pond.