I need Help Dealing With a Wild Blue Herring

[hollmer]

I would like to know if anyone has any ideas on how to make the blue herring that insists on eating all my pond fish find a new food source.

We have had this beautiful visitor come three or four times now and he has completely empties my pond of all its fish.

I don't mind so much that he is eating my fish but yesterday my husband was speaking with a woman that runs a store called wild birds and she told him that she has read reports that Herring have been found injuried in peoples yards and when they try to help he attacks and has the ability to penatrate a full grown adults sterum with his beak.

He is a beautiful Bird and the neighborhood I live in has many fenced yards and dangers to this bird, First I do not ever want him to get injuried coming in to my yard but ever more so I do not want my 7 year old daughter to get injuried if she were to find him hurt in our yard.

We have warned her to stay away and she understands the danager, after living with Macaws her whole life and seeing what they can do she knows our warnings our serious.

I have left the pond without fish for several weeks hoping he would move on, but neigbors are still seeing him around.

We were told to try a fake snake or herring-does this work

I do not want to net the pond, there are two many smaller birds and animals that like to go in the pond and I don't want to find any animal stuck in the net.

Any ideas would be helpful Thank you

[Buteo]

Hmmmm
First, let me fix a slight mistake in the terminology......
A Herring is a small saltwater fish...
while the bird you are having a problem with is called a Heron.

Yes, the beak of an adult Great Blue Heron is a serious weapon. I don't know if they actually have the power to puncture the sternum, but even someone with "abs of steel" couldn't stop a heron beak from penetrating deep into the flesh, muscle and organs of their midsection. The bigger danger however is to the face. Heron are very adept at hitting small targets and have been known to stab at the eyes when captured.

I can understand your fears concerning your daughter, but I honestly don't think you have much to worry about on that end. With Macaw experience already under her belt, your daughter sounds like she knows enough to come get you before she would try to get close to that bird.
Heron are usually shy and don't usually like having an audience. Most will usually vacate the area at least till they have the privacy they need to hunt.

Once a heron has found a home like your pond, it's going to be somewhat difficult to get it to find look for better hunting grounds. The fish you stock are like candy for the bird.
(LOL! It's like having a pastry shop in a preschool playground....the windows will seldom be clear of little fingerprints.)

Suggestions:

1) Net your pond. I understand your reluctance to do this as it requires you to check it for possible "unintentional prisoners" on a very regular basis.

2) Don't restock the pond for at least 2 months. I know it wrecks the whole summer pond thing, but nothing says "the Sushi shop is closed" to the bird better than no fish in the pond.

3) Random noise generation. Install speakers near the pond and when the bird is sighted or at random intervals, just turn on some loud music.
This of course will likely make your pond a ghost town as far as any other wildlife is concerned....as well as put a strain your relationship with your neighbors.

4) Get a RC hobby vehicle!!!
When my parents owned a mobile home down in Florida, my dad used to use a Radio Controlled truck to "coax & herd" a rather aggressive local goose & gander away from the area beside their trailer. Since the area you need to cover is both water & land, I'd suggest a hovercraft or some other MTV (Multi Terrain Vehicle). This method has limitations though as it requires a person to be watching as well as an active participant in controlling the RC.

5) A large imitation "Alligator" floating in your pond or resting on shore...
or a large "bird of prey" decoy on a perch next to the pond.

I doubt a fake snake would work. None of the native North American snakes, including Rattlers and Cottonmouths, are a real threat to a large adult heron like a Tricolor or a Great Blue...
Though even they are at significant risk to all the illegally released constrictors that now inhabit Florida and other southern states.
LOL! For your particular case though, I don't think they make fake life-sized Burmese Python or Anaconda.

Whatever fake you use must be moved at least once daily. If left in the same place, the Heron will soon realize your decoy is nothing more than a fancy ornament and ignore it.

I hope that helps....

While you can though, I hope you enjoy the thrill of having such incredible bird so close.

[hollmer]

Thank you for all the ideas, When we put our pond in we were regularly asked if there was any Heron sightings around our house.(We live on the Buffalo NY Border in a subarb called amherst) We kept saying no way would they bother coming near our house there is not enough food supply in this area to lure them to our house. But We spoke too soon, we came home from my daughters skating practice to find this beautiful giant perched on our Garage Roof as soon as my daughter closed her car door he fly to a neighbors roof and of course he had just finish a nice meal of goldfish and baby koi. My Husband even managed to get a picture of him sitting on the neighbors roof after his second trip to feed. So far we have never seen him in the pond or on the ground, but our neighbors have.He usually visits at dusk or dawn and only if we are 1. not home or 2 sleeping/or at least the house is quiet and dark. I really don't mind if he snacks on my fish,(He ate pretty much everything anyway including a goldfish that was about a foot long! So I haven't bought him any new snacks lately)

but I have 5 other properties that touch my yard and all the electrical lines run between the backyards.

My biggest concern is one the Bird might get injuried, and two that a person might get injuried. We are in the process of passing the warning on to all the neighbors that can see in my yard not to approach the heron if it should happen to get injured.

I like the idea of noise, and seriously do you really think I could annoy my neighbors any more with a radio than I do with my Macaws Screaming at the top of their lungs in the yard!!!LOL

I have seen motion activated Owls that will make noise whenever the sensor is set off. Do you think something along those lines will work?

Thank you for you advice, as I know this is not the normal type of question on this board but I figured somebody would have info or be able to direct me to it.

Also as I stated he has never appeared during daylight hours, do I need to be concerned about him going after my Macaws if he should happen to fly by and see them on their stands in the yard. How territoral are they? My Birds are never unsupervized but I really do not want to end up inbetween a heron/Macaw fight.

[Ashling]

Macaw would win!
Scarecrow? Motion sensing lights?

[BigBird]

Hi Hollmer, We had the same problem a few years back. We have a 10 metre long pond and would come home and find fish bits everywhere. We lost over 50 fish to the buggers! They werent scared of our 3 big dogs or us! My fish lived in fear. Would not come out of hiding for a long time. First we covered it with netting. Hated that but the fish survived. We tried the cd mobiles, they didnt work. Then I saw a brilliant idea on the net. A woman used fishing line to keep away the birds. The birds cant see it so it freaks them out and they wont go in. It worked. I nailed a peice of wood at each end of the ponds ie two uprights with a strip of wood nailed to each, ie like a fence. then zig zagged the fishing line over the top of the pond. It was brilliant. You dont even notice the fishing line, the birds have stayed away now for 3 years (they were visiting daily) and the plant growth is not restricted. I highly recommend it. Great for the fish and great for the plant plus its not ugly, you hardly see it especially after a while you dont notice it at all.

[BirdsUnlimited]

My neighbor stuck one of those cheap pink flamingos in the ground for a laugh and noticed that it also got rid of the heron...might wanna try that.