Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations egrets good or bad?

My pond has become the roosting spot for hundreds of white egrets. Are egrets good or bad for your pond?

James,

Egrets, or what we call cattle birds because they follow the cows around looking for insects the cows stir up, seem to be completely harmless to my ponds. I like them, because they eat insects.

They do not appear to eat fish, only drink water from ponds. Sometimes in late afternoon they will stage an "air" show flying around the ponds chasing each other. I like the egrets.

Thats what I thought but there are so many of them that I wanted to make sure.

james,
I always figured egrets were on the same scale as herons, just smaller.
Here in NC they eat fish.

James, for the most part, they eat insects. The worst part is that they pretty well kill the trees.

Dave,
I thought he was talking about the Snowy Egret.
Their primary diet is fish although I understand they will eat insects, frogs ect.
Ml,
Is this "cattle bird" you refer to also white?

Ok James, acording to thess websites it could either be a "Cattle Egret" or "Snowy Egret"

Both are said to eat fish but fish are the Snowy's main dish.

Cattle Egret:
http://www.honoluluzoo.org/cattle_egret.htm

Snowy Egret:
http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/snowyegret.htm

I believe I would try to ID them but like Dave says that many birds can cause damage to vegitation with their droppings.

Ric, I'm sure they are cattle egrets. They follow the cows around. As the cows walk, they stir up insects that the birds eat. James is only about 20 or so miles from me.

When a big flock start roosting in a grove of trees, their droppings cover the ground and trees. The trees die.

They are the white cattle egrets. They follow my cows around picking up insects as the cows graze but spend the majority of their time roosting on the brush piles in my pond. The main reason that I have been concerned is their sheer numbers. I must have hundreds of them. They are not large birds but if they had a desire to eat fathead minnows I could possibly have a problem. The water in my pond is probably four feet from being full and so any structure that I put in the pond has made good roosting for the birds. I have also noticed that they spend time near my feeder on my dock pooping everywhere. I hope they aren't eating the pellet feeding fish.

James,

Not to worry. I'd bet you have a big herd of cows nearby and/or hay fields. They love to follow the tractors mowing hay and pick up the bugs as the bugs flee for their lives.

Yes, they do leave their calling cards on my piers, but I never have seen them eat one fish. They will leave soon for Mexico, not to be seen again until next spring...in their place come the water turkeys from the North. Now there is a bird to worry about.

I am trying to prepare for the water turkeys. I have my permit ready to mail. I still need to get my hunting license for 06 and I need to buy a gun. What do you recommend for the gun?

James, a hunting license is only good for game birds and egrets and water turkeys are federally protected. Go ahead and send in the cormorant permit info now. It may take awhile.

That said, if I were going to legally hunt sparrows, I would buy a 12 guage shotgun and a 22-250 rifle with a damn good scope.

I'd keep my mouth shut if I made a mistake and accidently hit something other than a sparrow.

Great, something I can contribute.

If you need to buy a gun, that means you probably don't hunt much, hence no reason to spend big bucks.

Mossberg 12 gauge pump, full or modified choke, less than $200 at your local discount store, heavy #6 shot if using lead, 2's or 4's if using steel.

My personal preference is Gold Hunter, sans plug, 3 1/2" T's.

Happy hunting.

I agree with Gumboot. Make sure you can use the 3.5 inch shells and get yourself some shoulder padding cause those loads are going to kick and bruse your shoulder. I'd also vote for the 4's shot size. Your are looking at one tough bird. I use the turkey loads, # 4, and it hurts the old shoulder, but helps protect the fish.

meadowlark I do not think that the birds are going to let me get close enough to use a shotgun. Last year they would take flight whenever I got within 200 ft. I am not a hunter and so whatever I say may be wrong but I'm thinking more of a rifle.

James,

Here is a suggestion. Build yourself or purchase a simple blind. Leave it in place for the entire season. I bought one for about $50 from Bass Pro, camo, one person, place to sit and watch. The water turkeys are one of the smartest birds you will ever run into, and at the same time dumbest. If they can not see your face, you are not there. If you are not there, they will land right in front of you and also eat right in front of you. When startled, they refuse to believe you are there and will fly right back to you to convince themselves they were right....until they see your face, then and only then, they will turn away.

Leave the blind in place and eventually they will associate bad things come from that blind and that pond may not be the most pleasant place to visit.

I can't overempahsize enough the importance of watching for and discouraging the scout birds. I wasn't kidding when I said they kiss and tell...they also report violent incidents to their buddies and share preferred sites. Don't believe me? Well, it's true. Those scout birds are the key. Teach them a lesson, even let them return to their buddies with some buck shot ringing in their ears and you will significantly reduce your problems.

My problem is that the scout birds find my pond while I'm not there...and then its Katy bar the door, party on!

p.s. the shotgun is much more terrifying to them than a far off rifle shot...get the biggest meanest, loudest gun you can and let them see and hear it in action.

THANKS GUYS!

James, the biggest problem with cattle egrets isn't what they take, it's what they leave.

I don't want to start a new thread for a related question, but how the heck do you guys keep cattle egrets from roosting on your deck/wharf/gazebo/etc.? I'm so tired of cleaning up after them. The shotgun method only works for one day or two days at best. Then I suspect a new bunch comes through and the cycle starts over again. I tried the fake owls, aluminum pie plates, and a fake snake, to no avail. The dog works great but he's not always with me. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I've watched the cattle egrets on the edge of the pond with my binoculars and all I've ever seen them eat were insects and such. Very rarely I'll see one take a minnow. However, they did have a feast on tadpoles earlier in the spring.

As for water turkeys, Meadowlark is right about those scout birds. Let one of those hang around a couple days and on the third day you'll be invaded. I would be the last person to advocate breaking the law so let me leave you with a famous quote: "Kill the messenger"

DK,

Right you are...or at least scare them so badly they will not dare return with their friends.

Egrets do leave their calling cards, but in a normal season with rain that quickly disappears. Unfortunately, this summer is not normal and I have lots of those "cards" also. I just figure it is part of the price of nature; I like the egrets, myself.