Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Heron wound?

Many many moons ago, I remember a member losing some LMB because of a large heron wounding his fish by stabbing them with his beak.

I caught a weak fish,13.5"" male 77% RW, that I thought was just a small branch caught on my line, no fight. He had a 1/2 inch round dorsal wound slightly behind his head & near his spine. It was down to the bone, 3/8" deep, not through & through & not fresh. I had first thought it was a stress fungal lesion, LMB just off their beds. When I opened his abdomen foul grey-black water poured out. Later I wished I had checked to see if the wound was contiguous with his abdomen. I only did a quick pinky probe. I do have a Great Blue & large White Heron that patrol the banks daily. This is my first time seeing something like this.

If a heron or osprey kills a fish, the fish deserves it!

Comments & thoughts Appreciated.

Can’t say I agree with you (and Lusk) about the fish deserving it. I’m not trying to raise herons, cormorants, etc. And, as for me, I prefer chickens to chicken hawks, etc.

So no problem then, your fish obviously deserved it.

I caught a similar LMB that had a completely fresh hole stabbed all the way through it, it was dead within minutes.

I am with DD1, I am not a fan of them, especially not stabbing a fish that is too big for them to eat or handle, just killing them because they can, my fish didnt deserve to die that way.

I have always thought the stabbing large fish behavior was very strange.

Are the heron "bird brains" so stupid that they just see a silvery flash in the water and attack? If it is a 4" fish, they eat it, and if it is a large fish it is just unfortunate to be around a hunting heron and dies?

Or are the herons so smart, that killing large fish in the pond allows them more small fish for their consumption?

I have only observed herons hunting from across the pond. I have never seen game camera video that shows their actual hunting techniques at close range.

Many bass end up surviving such GBH attacks, but certainly, it's not a favorable thing.

We've had many PB members who've seen a GBH heron "dropping" fish into a pond. Now, whether or not the GBH just happened to lose control of the live fish, or if it intentionally dropped/stocked the fish is unknown.

I do tend to believe that GBHs move fish in order to create a food supply, and if that's true, then I also believe they will attack other predator fish (LMB) that compete for the same food source of smaller fish.

Seeing a GBH drop a fish one time would lead me to think it could be an isolated incident, but Todd Overton, God rest his soul, stated that he had seen this many, many times at his hatchery.

When you think about a GBH, it's easy to see some similarities to a pre-historic pterodactyl. How many hundreds of thousands of years of instinct would be inbred into a GBH?

Thinking more about the GBH & his taking out LMB. I watched one dispatch a 8" CNBG & spend the next half hour getting it in his mouth & throat just right so he could swallow it. If he could get a luncheon plate shaped fish down, it seems a torpedo shaped LMB would go down head first much easier. I am of the opinion that he considered that LMB his next meal but the LMB got away before he could capture it.

The GBH was after some Muscovy ducklings yesterday, mom protesting. I hope he gets all ten of them. Where is the red-tailed hawk when you really need him. Last thing the pond needs is ten more ducks.

Excellent point!

I have only observed them swallowing smaller fish, but I suspect that is what was most available to them wading in shallow waters.

If they are capable of swallowing 14" LMB, then I have little doubt that they truly hunt fish that size and shape.

Herons feed at night, and will also drop a LMB on the bank and regrip and swallow. GBH will also fight off other GBH that show up, and I've seen them chase trespassers for several hundred yards. For some reason, they don't chase off white egrets.

Night time is when GBH gorge on bull frogs. It's taken almost 2 years to get them back, and I assume they'll get whacked again this summer.

My daughter and I used to like to ride bikes to a nearby neighborhood pond and feed the BBH in the pond. One day we were there and a GBH noticed the feeding activity and flew over. It waded as deep as it could get and waited. Wind blew the feed close enough that it was able to spear a BH in short order. It flew to the other side of pond with the fish speared (was not gripping the fish on the outside ... though I imagine the speared bill were either spreading or contracting within the fish to help its gripped). Now I was wondering just how difficult that BH would be to swallow. If you have ever caught one, they spread their pectoral and dorsal spines erect to serve as an impediment to being consumed. If you have ever tried to close those spines flat along the sides ... you will discover that this is VERY difficult to do. They seem to lock into place.

So here is how the GBH negotiated that BH. It slung it off its beak and then punctured it again. It picked it up and slung it down again and punctured it again. It didn't try to swallow the BH, I think, until it was completely dead and unable to keep its spines erect. At which time it swallowed the BH headfirst none the worst for wear.

So then a week later we returned with a small bag of feed in hand to feed the fish again. This time we noticed the GBH and I was thinking "crap here we go again" and sure enough the moment the feed hit the water here it came a flying. Same thing all over again. Neither I nor my daughter liked helping the GBH and so we resolved not to feed the catfish as long as a GBH was present. But for sure, a GBH is smart enough to learn how to hunt around a feed and smart enough to know that a BH had better be dead before attempting to swallow it.

Neat story

Several years ago I stocked just over 20 rainbow trout which ranged from 15" to 20" in my pond. The next Spring a GBH stabbed one of the smallest trout on the back. The two punctures were about 1 1/2" apart. That fish survived the bird attack. I actually observed that fish to be far more aggressive at feeding time than any of the others.

Three times the next summer I caught and released that fish; it never grew longer than the 15" although its confirmation remained good. One side of the body was very much darker than the other side. The two wounds were on the lighter side and were dark and quite visible on the trout as it swam by the feeding station.

That fish disappeared the following winter.

On another occasion I observed a GBH standing on my floating island flipping a large GSF trying to orient it for swallowing. I drove the bird off and recovered the injured fish. It measured 9"; it was pretty beat up. Later that same summer I got to watch a GBH using the same floating island catch a BG I estimated at 8", work on getting it into its mouth, then stand with its head extended skyward for about 15 minutes. The lump in the bird's throat was clearly visible as it ever so slowly moved down the gullet.

And now my treasured 13" bright orange pond goldfish is missing. It, too, has possibly been struck by another heron.

I have an industrial sized wood chipper capable of handling 12" diameter logs and trees. Maybe the GBHs will enter that infeed chute one of these days.

Every time you cull a GSF or BG, place it at the bottom of the feed chute. Motion-activated sensor wired to the on/off switch placed at the opening of the feed chute.

I predict you will run out of GBHs long before you run out of panfish!

AHHhhhh , Believe You and my Dear old Pappy would have been dear and tight friends. Sign above his Desk ." No Problem Can't Be Solved , With Enough Dynamite "