Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Blue heron. What to do

Got my new pond stocked and keep seeing a blue heron at it

It flys off if I go down there. walked around it today and saw tracks where it was walking around the edge. Found a dead 4in BG half eatin.
Is there anything I can do to stop them.

Urup,

There is a ton of stuff on this site about those wonderful birds! Just do a search for Great Blue Heron your find some a bunch of stuff.

I saw my first one for the year the other day, a massive mature male. Since I haven't got the stakes in yet I ran him off. As I am a fish farming facility I can get a permit from the feds for $100.00 to shoot two a year, but don't do it any more. Shooting is only a temporary measure, as one will soon replace the killed one, and they are only doing what they evolved to do.

I did a good article on nonlethal measures to keep them from dining on your fish in a past Pond Boss issue. I'm sure you can order it if you don't have it.

In a nutshell the most effective measure for me is to pound in wooden stakes cut from furring strips (really cheap), screw in dry wall screws (to secure mono line) on the top and run a heavy mono or other line around the pond at about 16 inches give or take in height. You don't need many stakes.

The idea is this species does not fly and land into the water like ducks and geese but wades in. (Unless the water is quite shallow and the bird knows it for sure) If the line prevents the bird from wading in he should go elsewhere. Don't be afraid to but a second line below the first one in case you feel the bird could duck under the line.

It's not as obtrusive as you think and not an eyesore at all. Best of all it's a KISS method and I love KISS' as they have to be idiot proof for me.

Last week I had a flock of 5 fly towards the pond. I was outside and walked back to the pond. That was enough of a deterrent to convince them to change course and keep flying. That's the first time I've seen more than one at a time.

The only time I see more than one adult is just before a big bird fight.

Darn it didn't work! I was feeling mischievous the other day and went to five ponds and had a talk with a heron on each pond. Gave them your GPS location, and told them you had a vulnerable pond as it was way down and the fish were concentrated. You should have seem the hauling to get there!

Must be a migration thingy.

No I think its a mating thingy. Very territorial.

My bad I read fight as flight.

i can get several at 1 time at this time of year, i have surprized as many as 5 at 1 time in the back, the GF reported scaring off 3 just the other day, in a month or so there will only be singletons

Cecil, your monofilament sounds ok for your size of ponds and your valuable fishys, but when its a long way around and a farm pond, forgetabout it

I found many threads about blue heron so I decided to post here

As I once said, I had problems with these birds too. One of them often visited my pond but none of my family had luck to shot it down because this bird is very careful. And what can you do with shotgun in 100 m range? Heron isn't moose-sized, it's not the most easy target.
This year that son of a bitch took 3 it's young ones with him. That was too much!
My brother created a trap (something often is used for fishing). The base is metal chain (can be used usual fishing line but chain is heavier) that is fixed in both ends to ground. Then add some hooks to it (using fishing line) and put live fish on the hook. Be sure you add hook to fish very carefully because it has to be alive for a long time (in my case crucian carp was wonderful choice - they can survive for a long time even injured. As you probably don't have such fish, try to find something else).
Then put it on some shallow place where heron usually hunts and go away.
So, we put this system in the pond and came to visit it after a day. Some fish were eaten and only hooks were left. We put fresh fish on them and came next day again. And after some days one of these herons was on the hook One of the hooks were off. If heron doesn't stay on the line, I hope at least it's stomach will be injured and he won't come back.

This system may not work properly in ponds where are big predator fish that may be willing to eat these bait fish. In such case you may try to put a net fence around fish or something.

We have had at least one hanging around our pond quite regularly. we saw foot prints in the sand along the beach and my wife left a lawn chair down there. Ever since then, we have not seen it (the Heron, LOL)around. It has been over a month now. We still see them in the creek behind the pond, and that is fine with me.
I was out cutting the grass along the creek a couple of weeks back and saw a whole family of Mink running around. There were 6 for sure, and possibly 8. All were adult size! These guys worry me more right now. They can clean out the pond in a hurry!

Never a dull moment around here!

Dude, get any traps you can find and try to eliminate all these minks. Don't wait until they finish their dirty work.

Yeah, that's the hard life of a pond owner. You can never get rid of these unwanted predators. After killing minks an otter will show up. When you will catch it, that heron will come back. And after that you may find a cormorant and so on and so on...
But never surrender!

Best thing I've found to do is.. Nothing.. I see it as, if your fish can't survive a heron you have bigger problems.. I see herons all the time in my pond I actually enjoy watching them stalk fish and eat them (I know people are gasping for air).. I'm sure they've killed fish bigger than they can eat, well snappers need to eat to so dead rotting fish doesn't go to waste either.. Now if I had a fish raising facility or very small pond that might be different.. Sometimes it's better to not sweat the small stuff..

4 herons right now. How much of them there will be next year? Twice as much or even more? I thought they were solitary birds before I heard stories about 5-6 herons on one small pond. Don't you think that's too much?
Fish were put only last autumn in my pond and every eaten fish is important in the beginning. If there is a healthy fish population then it would be different.
Anyway I don't see any reason why should I tolerate such creature. There are enough lakes in my area and I don't mind if they hunt there. But if they don't understand... too bad for them.

Probably I should make pictures of that system next weekend (just in case if there is somebody who thinks like me). By the way, another one heron has been trapped 2 herons left and I hope they have learned something. If not then they will definitely join their brothers and sisters in place were all dead herons usually go.