Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Beware the Heron

Well, something always has to happen while you're away...


























Behold the Black-crowned Night-Heron skulking in the tree.
I wouldn't have seen him coming if I was a fish either.
Especially one of our fish.
They are a rather naive, pampered lot, well-fed and cared for (about forty fish in all).  The biggest one WAS about eight inches long with several others not far behind in size...
Until the heron came to visit.






























And here is the new and improved Fort Knox of fish ponds.
Rather sad, really.



The first netting (designed by my ingenious, engineer husband) was to keep out the raccoons who pillaged the pond the first year we set it up.
See the open space between the two sections?
Well, it appears that was just wide enough for a heron to perch and pick off five of our largest fish.
Boooo!
My husband has attached additional netting and now even we have trouble getting to our fish!










It has taken three weeks for the fish to dare to come up to the surface.

10 comments:

  1. Chyba nie było innej rady, jeśli nieproszeni goście wyjadali ryby. Myślę, że jak jesteś w ogrodzie, to zdejmujesz to zabezpieczenie, aby się napatrzeć na rośliny i rybki. Pozdrawiam.
    I guess there was no other, if uninvited guests eating the fish. I think that as you are in the garden, then take off the safety, in order to see all the plants and fish. Yours.

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    Replies
    1. And that's what we do, Giga, take it off and on (although I'd rather be able to just leave it off :)

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  2. Poor little fishes. It's pretty neat that you have a heron in your yard, but not so great that he's gobbling up your friend in the fish pond.

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    Replies
    1. So true, I love having new wildlife in the garden, but I don't like it when they remove things :)

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  3. Poor golden fishes! You husband made good netting.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Nadezda, my husband is wonderful to have around :)

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  4. As soon as I saw the pond protection, I thought her husband must be an engineer. :) BTW, beautiful pond!

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    Replies
    1. It's so true about engineers, they're always coming up with solutions and building things :)

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  5. Clever clever heron:) And they are so good about doing it while you're not looking:) We had a similiar situation at my parents:)

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    Replies
    1. This particular heron supposedly fishes at night, so we never had a chance :( I don't know if he's not coming back because he got all our biggest fish and the rest are not worth his while, or because our netting is working. Time will tell. What did your parents do about their heron?

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Thank you so much for your kind words :)

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