Blue Heron Eating My Koi

[Mike Ellis]

I recommend Dr. Mike's Famous Red Ryder Therapy if you can get close enough. In my youth I successfully used that therapy on many a varmint and cured their urge to wander our property PDQ. The Red Ryder is also a fine all-purpose tool suitable for:



- cattle punching

- cat wrangling

- dog pounding

- bird flipping

- etc (limited only by imagination and enthusiasm)



Useful in almost any situation where you want to get the point across, but don't want to seriously injure or kill. For larger, thicker skinned or more heavily feathered beasties a small projectile with more oomph may be required, a standard pump-up pellet rifle at 3 or 4 pumps does a fine job. Why stress yourself chasing around and getting all hot and bothered? Just "reach out... reach out and touch someone... . "



After a few therapy sessions, the varmints will steer clear of your vicinity and the sight of any human carrying anything that remotely resembles a gun will have them high-tailin' away.

 

[Doc Tinker]

Here's a suggestion that my dad sent me:



I saw something on TV yesterday that might be just the thing to discourage that heron and enhance your poolscape at the same time. A fellow on one of those 'how to' garden spots was demonstrating how to make a "Klack-klack" as used in Japanese water gardens to scare away animals. It would be very easy to make - if you can find the bamboo to make it of. It requires a piece of bamboo probably about 4 feet long and two or three inches in diameter and material for a spindle and a means to support the spindle (all preferably bamboo).



I can give you a better description when I see you, but this is briefly how it is done:



One end of the length of bamboo needs to be cut just beyond a joint so that the membrane at the joint closes it off. Otherwise the bamboo is hollow. The opposite end is cut at a steep angle. A hole is drilled for the spindle roughly half way along the length of the piece. It is then mounted on the spindle with the pointed end located along the bottom (when it is horizontal). It needs to be situated over the pool so that the closed end rests against a rock with the piece at about a 45 degree angle. A stream from your pool recirculating pump is directed onto the projection at the

open end so that water will run in to and fill up the bamboo. When the weight of the water is sufficient it will overbalance the bamboo tube, causing the tube to flip up and dump the water out. Then the tube flips back and the closed end of the tube strikes the rock with a 'klack' (thus, hopefully, scaring the heron). It then continues to cycle as long as the water stream continues.



The only tricky part that I can see is the location of the pivot point so that the balance with and without water works out.

 

[illflem]

It won't work for long Doc and the bird will realize it isn't a threat. We use acetylene powered bird cannons in the orchard, randomly fires louder than a 12 gauge, every time it fires it spins around so the noise comes from a different direction each time. Works for about five days before they totally ignore it. You have to go out every couple days with a shotgun and nail a few so they get the idea the bang does mean business.

 

[Sled Puller]

Kill it.

 

[klaybus]

Big Bird

My in-laws had the exact same problem. You can buy a decoy Blue Heron at a local pond shop which will work short term. Shoot a few of them with a 22..... Or you can buy the sprinkler with the sensor. Thats what my in-laws did & it by far works the best! The 22 was my suggestion but apparently the Blue Heron is an endangered species so my fater in law wasn't interested in getting into trouble if he was caught by a tree\wildlife hugger... .

Try the sprinkler, it's been working for them for 2-3 years. Don't forget to take it down when it starts to freeze. They lost one that way.



Good Luck!

Clay

 

[Doc Tinker]

Thanks for all the suggestions. The decoy heron didn't work. Mrs Doc got one last year, for decoration. We didn't have a problem with the heron at the time and we didn't know that herons don't like to fish in pairs. I was ready to take the decoy out, thinking it was actually attracting the bird.



Anyway. . We now have:



A clothes line on reels that runs near the pond. We have started to hang an old sheet on it and reel it out by the pond, when the clothes line is not in use.



A robot monkey that jumps and chatters whenever anything moves near the pond.



A sprinkler that squirts when the monkey jumps and chatters.



A Dalmatian and a lab, tied to the dogwood tree next to the pond.



Two cats tied by the tail, hanging on the clothes line.



A net strung over the pond



An alligator decoy in the pond and one next to the pond (one of those stepping stone guys, with the top of his head, back and tail sticking out of the ground.



Wire strung between stakes around the pond



Romex with bare ends laying in the pond, ready for me to throw the switch



My son is sitting on the porch with a shotgun. The only problem with that, is he's been drinking beer and he sees two alligators in the pond. Not to mention that he's sitting on the wrong porch. Who knows what pond he's looking at with the two alligators.



---



This morning, while I was on heron patrol, two mallards waddled up to the pond, slipped under the net and proceeded to dine on koi. AAAARRRRRGGGGGG !!!!





Doc

 

[Mike Ellis]

Gotta get back to basics, Doc. Just mix the following ingredients near the pond:



(1) - 10 year old boy

(1) - Red Ryder BB gun

(1) - Daisy "Treasure Chest" of BBs (10,000 count)



Buy yourself some earplugs to drown out the din of heron screeches, dog yelps, cat yowling etc. and slam down a cold one while your problem is solved.





PS - Make sure your koi pond is at least 2 feet deep, otherwise the koi are bound to catch a few BBs too. I learned at a very, VERY young age that ANYTHING which moves sets up a magnetic field that attracts BBs.