BonniesPlants.com

Wow!! That is really something!! Thanks so much for sharing your stories.
Jane

Wow, reading all this makes me feel really lucky. I've never had to worry about any of this and I hope I never do. I think alot of it has to do with the fact that our pond isn't easily accessable... the pond is close to the house, we have no shallow spots, there isn't much place around it to land, the bridge makes it even harder, I have 3 dogs, we have a neighbor who is always out working in his garage at all hours of the day/night, so I'm sure that noise scares them off a bit, etc... but I've heard so many of these stories, I still feel lucky to have never even lost 1 small fish to a bird of prey.

my pond was only 10feet away from my house when that naughty bird came calling . the nieghbors were outside doing their thing...... it didn't care. it wanted something to eat. my cement pond was 2 1/2 feet deep and my fish would come to the top to see what you were bringing them to eat. my dogs didn't care about birds as I have had 500 birds that I used to breed and show, so they thought what did mom bring home now. the only reason that i knew about it my monkey squealed on it cause it was close to the house and it looked like a tall man in gray standing there. and I have a slider that goes onto my deck which made the pond closer. some of my other neighbors that have ponds, they are shallow and keep only feeder fish in it so I think that they trained the naughty bird to come close to the houses. I asked my neighbor to place a net on their ponds to stop it from comming back around and everyday I see it flying very low over my house. when my new pond gets finished he won't be able to get my fish we'll fix that with the fishing line and if I have to untangle it so be it. It won't be the first time that I had to handle a big bird. being a vet tech I had to go help the animal control person get an emu (looks like ostridge) the bird ran around on a busy street and they tried to sedat it and one person made a stupid mave and it made the bird run towards me, i zig he zaged and slipped on my brand new ice coffee it was about 90 degrees that day. when it spilt my coffee it made me mad so I just reach out and grabbed it by the neck I asked everyone there....... is someone gonna help me? the stupid bird was kicking me till I could get my feet wrapped around it. everyone was scared of it. but I got my laugh in the end it was a funny picture I was on the ground with the bird rolling in iced coffee.

What a funny story Laura

Thanks to us ponders who supply the birds with plenty of food, the heron should be removed from the endangered species list, IMO

Bonnie

Our pond has sloped walls with no shelves or anything and it's nearly 5' deep at the bottom drain. The top pond is only 2.5' deep, but we rarely have fish in that part. That and the fact that there is VERY limited places to stand around the pond have probably been the biggest factors in saving my fish I guess. Or maybe they're just getting their fill from the bigger ponds and lakes in the neighborhood. From above my lot they would definitly see the bigger ones before they saw our little pond hidden among the ladscape, but we bought little 2" commets 3 years ago and still have the 4 of them that made it through the first winter('05-'06).

That is a halarious story LOL, I have seen people try to catch Emu on TV, but I've never been face to face with one, I bet that was an experiance you'll never forget LOL. I can see why your dogs ignore the birds, I love birds... outside... so my dogs haven't had the exposure to birds and my shep/beagle mix LOVES to chase them, the others don't mind as much, but they would if they saw something as big as a heron, I'm sure they would go insane, lol. I've heard alot of people locally that have had alot of trouble with herons, but I've never seen one so much as fly past, I think they avoid my neighborhood completely... maybe they had a taste of the polluted lake around the corner and ran for the hills, LOL.

Well...just wanted to post my gold and white Koi died today, I'm not sure what happened.
This was a beautiful fish so colorful in the water. I just within the last month had duckweed in the pond, I had it before and it never stayed because the fish would devour it. But it seems to really been spreading could have this caused a problem that may have killed the fish??
My fish still aren't the same they have gotten a bit better since the scare but now that I've lost Goldie, it was my favorite fish.
I am just so bummed again. How is that these little creatures bring so much joy and so much sadness when they go?
Just wanted to share with fellow ponders because I knew you would understand...it's been a tough week here with my pond.
Jane

I'm so sorry, Jane.

I too am sorry to hear about your loss.

Were there any marks on the fish? Could it have been damaged by the heron?

Bonnie

Sorry for the loss of your babies. Just remember......even thou the life of your little buddy has passed....... his life will always be forever a memory in your heart, and you will fondly look up those memories from time to time. Maybe about the time he stole some food from his sister, or the time he caught that bug etc... He has tugged the heart strings of all your fishy friends here. And on this web site will be imortalized forever.

I thought possibly that it could have been from whatever got them in the first place but on closer inspection there were no marks on him???
Kinda dumb founded here.
Thank you so much for the kindness, it's really appreciated.
Jane in PA

Looks like we were hit by something tonight, fed the fish @ 6 p.m., went out to a birthday celebration, came home and checked the pond to find I couldn't see the fish, they were all hiding under filters or pumps, which is not usual when I check on them in the dark. I did the best count I could with a flash light, could only find 11 out of 14 fish, the 3 fish with the most white were missing, makes sense because they are the most visible in the dark. All the missing fish were shubunkins/goldfish, none of the 7 koi were touched, only the lighter fish. Never seen a heron around here, no natural ponds nearby. I did see an owl early in May on the property. In 3 years of having a pond (enlarged this year) never lost a fish except to disease. Saw a few scales on the bottom with the flashlight, not sure if they were there before. I have Iris and Calla on a shallow ledge, and they were lying flat on the water as if something knocked them over. The pond is about 3 feet deep in the center section, with a steep slope up to a 1 foot shelf, with a variety of plant baskets along the shelf. Are big owls fish predators, can they dive 3 feet under water? The only wildlife I have seen in the yard are skunks and squirrels. A stone wall surrounds the pond. Any ideas how to protect it short of chaining my 2 dogs around it?

Joe Dufresne

Sounds like a raccoon to me.........

Bonnie

Last night came home around 9:30 and found 3 of our 14 fish missing, and the iris & cala on the edge flattened. All of the missing fish were shubunkins or comets, with a lot of white coloring. Never had a problem in the past 2 summers of ponds with missing fish, there were no signs of fish parts in the yard or around the pond. The pond is outside our bedroom window, and this morning heard a splash over the sound of the fountain, and I awoke @ 5:15 to a blue heron 6 feet from the window!, I yelled, it flew, what can I do? Are owl statues effective? This has really upset us, one of the missing is our first fish that had survived everything in my learning how to keep a pond, the wife and I are quite upset. It is bad enough to loose fish to disease, but to watch healthy fish disappear, that is hard. The remaining fish are hiding under the filter, too scared to swim around as they normally do at dawn.

Joe Dufresne

Joe, go back and read this whole thread. There are some suggestions here. Other than those, I have no other suggestions.

Statues have no effect. I have 2 heron spitters and that does not effect the herons. I would guess other statues would have no effect either.

You will need to work quickly because a heron never forgets where it got its last meal and it will keep coming back until you find a way to keep them out of the pond or it has cleaned out the pond.

Since they do not land on water but wade in, is it possible to put some kind of barrier near the shallow part?

Bonnie