Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Odd Sights

Guys the "Great Brid Foot Theory" about carrying fish eggs is just a myth. bird really can't carry eggs on their feet.....

How are you so sure? Can you prove it's impossible? Have you examined the web feet of herons on a regular basis?

It's very likely fish eggs are in the area a heron walks, and we do know eggs can be sticky and adhere to things depending on when contact is made and the species of fish. I once took your postion, but when I was exposed to a very knowledgable fish farmer with a lot of education in the field, and he made a convincing case, I'm leaving my mind open to this.

I'm with Cecil on this one...

For example, my parents have a small ornamental pond, maybe 2500 gallons, with a smaller 100 gallon pool at the top of a waterfall. Well for 10 years there has been only Goldfish and Koi in the lower pond, nothing in the upper pool. Then last year about 5 or 6 small fish appeared in the upper pool, and they were neither Goldfish nor Koi. There are really only two creatures that I see as potential carriers... the Great Blue that harasses the goldfish, or one of the leopard or bull frogs that sometimes makes its home there.

Interested readers - I'm not saying transport of fish or eggs is impossible by birds. Exceptions occur in many, many instances, never say never when dealing with nature. If bird transport occurs it is a relatively rare occurrance compared to human transport, the most common method of moving fish.

If I received a dollar for every water body that was contaminated with fish from human methods and had to give up $1 for every successful contaminated stocking from bird transport, I am betting I would have lots of extra money to spend for fish food .

I agree Bill, I suppose anything is possible, but not evrything is probable.....the big bird foot theory seem like a very long shot to me. I have been around several lakes and ponds all my life and never heard of any being contaiminated this way..

My pond was contaminated by bulheads and what I can absolutley rule out is human transplant and bad weather. We have had none of either one. There is only the pesky heron. I have consulted local experts at the state level and they assure me it is the herons. Bird transplant is usualy just an egg or two. I only caught 2 adults last year. I am sure human transplant is common in public waters but not here. Most public waters have a large enough diversity of fish to handle a few stray trash minnows. Unfortunately all my Bass died the winter before and I had to remove 360 young bullheads by hook and line and only caught 2 adults.

Here's another odd site. I know this sounds like a setup for a bad joke, but I was ice fishing with an attorney and a Catholic priest when a wild turkey started gobbling near the pond. We spent half an hour sneaking up on it to get a look. After observing him for a while we started the trek back. The turkey must have been observing us as well because he followed us back to the ice holes and then proceeded to snack on the beef jerky we had laying on a five-gallon bucket. Go figure.

To end this controversy once and for all I am offering my new ornamental pond for scientific study. It has just recently filled. There are no fish in it. Not much chance of it freezing over. Plenty of wading birds visiting my other ponds a good distance away. If someone wants to set up say a duck blind on the bank, I would be willing to offer a cup of coffee in the morning and a beer in the evening. The hard part will be to hold the wife back from landscapeing and gold fish stocking.

A kind of strange sight, but not as strange as some have posted...

I'm going through my first year of experience with Tilapia in my ponds and wondering what I will find when the water temps hit the big 50 degree mark. Well, while riding on my tractor going around the dam in one "cove" recently I noticed a huge school of Tilapia suspended about a foot below the surface....just hanging out, kind of milling around, somewhat like mullet in the Gulf. There was easily well over one hundred of them of various sizes. They would spook at any detectable movement but soon return to hanging out. Kind of scared me as to what may be ahead when the temps plummet.

M..lark - Keep us posted on the decline of your tilapia. May I suggest that you start a new topic on the cooling affects upon your tilapia population. This might make a good story for PBoss. Are any of them big enough to fillet?. Keep your camera and note pad ready. It will be interesting to see how may float when chilly conditions prevail. Are you monitoring water temps?

Bill,

Yes, all of the original stockers have nice fillets. They run 2 pounds and up...but unfortunately, these Mozambique Tilapia are difficult to fillet...you need a very strong knife. My water temps have been as low as 61 degrees thus far this fall, but we got our first frost last night...should get interesting very soon.

I was cleaning out my seining nets this weekend when an insect came crashing into the Morton building floor. I don't know if this picture does any justice but this bug was over an inch long and had a "gear wheel" on his back. He also had an orange protrusion out of his lower abdomen and he reared up and threatened me when I confronted him. If you can identify this insect I would be impressed.

Looks like a variety of assassin bug to me, Order Hemiptera, Family Reduviidae.

I've never heard of assassin bugs. I definitely don't know bugs, but if I have assassin bugs I'd like to know more about them. He's an awesome sight. Russ, have you ever encountered something like this before?

Russ, you're right on the money. He's an assassin bug. Apparently this type of assassin bug also goes by "wheel bug". This makes sense because he has a wheel, or set of gears on his back. Here's a really good similar photo.

I was feeding pieces of bread to some fish when a great blue heron walked up beside me and began fishing for the fish I was feeding. Only a small bush between us.
I would guess that birds transplanting fish is a design of nature not just an accident.

Not sure but I think that If I was that close to GBH that I would run a experiment on how far his neck would extend with weight on his feet and a pulling force on his head. They are not welcome around my pond.

I kid you not--if you have an injured GBH and try to capture him, he will go directly for your eyes. Serious injury could result.

Man! I bet thats right. OK I wonder if I could run a test to see how much blunt force there feathers could resist to protect from body damage with say center fire lead projectile.

Last weekend the farmer who rents our land was combining soybeans in the front 80acres. My wife saw something running around the field and called me over to the window. I looked through my spotting scope and saw a small, black, swaybacked pig with an oversized head about 40-50lbs. "It's a wild boar" I exclaimed. I grabbed my gun and drove out to the pig. With my 12ga. aimed I slowly approched it. It turned and started coming right at me! With stories of Hawaiian boar hunts running through my head I kept aim. When it was about 10' away I realized it wasn't moving in a threatening manner and I lowered the butt of the gun. The pig came up and sniffed the gun, turned and walked away. As it walked away I could see it was a barrow and I realized it was a domesticated animal, a Pot-bellied Pig! Apparently it was my neighbors. It definetly would have made for interesting converstation if I would have invited him to a hog roast!

We have a pot belly that occasionally gets loose on my road. He apparently travels from house to house, mooching food. I watched my neighbor trying to shoo him away one morning. It was pretty comical, especially since the pig won.

I was working on building my home when a bug landed on my back. My wife freaked out, which made me think it was something serious. I reached around and pulled this guy off.

I'm told it's a cottonwood beatle and it lives around the cottonwood tree. I have never seen a cottonwood on my land, and to be sure, I bought an tree identification chart just to make sure!!!

Eddie

On the topic of birds transporting eggs, I always thought they were from there poop. Do birds eat fish eggs? Do they digest all of the eggs, or do some of them pass through?

Eddie

eddie i believe it is a cottonwood borer-it also feeds on poplar and willow. It is similar to the Asian Longhorned Beetle but the ALB has stripped antenna.

How about help identifying this one. Its tail is like a scorpions. they were having a little dinner, on what I have no idea but I saw a leg.