New heron frustrating the pond owner!

[addy1]

Addy, damn that clear water! I sure enjoyed watching your videos, but I'm sure glad it's you and not me! I could much easier put a cover over my pond, since my deck would be sturdy for one side, but I sure feel bad for all the work you are putting into making your pond safe. You sure have a ton of babies, though! WOW!!! Those koi had better get big fast and eat the eggs and fry next year. LOL I'm thrilled for the 10 or so babies I have from the 2 spawnings this year. Perfect. I will be thinning out quite a few of the solid orange goldfish next spring, maybe wait and see if people are interested in them. For now, I need to locate a use aquarium so I can catch the plecostomus (he went in the pond in late June at maybe 7" and is at least 10" now .... ) and take pics of him and get him to a new home! I would never have put him in had I realized he could not stay the winter. Stupid me!
Well, good luck! I sure hope your new system will keep you relaxed while you are gone.

Laughing country, I have GOLDFISH, SHUBUNKINS .A lot of pretty ones love all the different colors................NO KOI NO KOI NO KOI

The water has been real clear, has been most of the summer, the fish have grown, more obvious from the air. The water got really really clear once we got the skimmer running, we had part of the pond with not much water movement.

Am I missing something or misreading, this is the second post i have read that seems to be saying Addy has Koi, Do she add some I don't know about? Are we still not sure if the rescue fish are koi, Or is Country talking about her Koi. I noticed on the other heron thread cometkeith mad a remark about koi now I'm windering if I missed something. Could be, I don't read every post like I was doing.

no koi fishin no koi lol Look at my av............even says goldfish, shubunkins only

In summary

These herons land in my back field, walk in a good 75-100 feet or so, through the back yard. The one that landed in the pond, walked in, stopped at the lotus pond drank some water, turned started walking into the bog, stopped flapped those wings and went over the 2 foot high chicken wire landed on top of the fishing line, got tangled a little then took off. (Probably helped that I ran out yelling to get it to fly away)

When I just had fishing line up(no chicken wire), 6 inches apart, 2.5 feet high, that bird pushed through it got its feet tangled did a header into the pond.

So they have shown they will fly over the fencing, don't seem to care if they can see fishing line over the pond. But the gator so far seems to catch their attention. I am getting 3 more, so I can change the look every now and then, each one different.

We have had a ton of rain, the rivers are swollen, their food source may have become scarce, that may be reason they have become more aggressive about fishing in the pond.

In summary
#1 fishing line around pond 6 inch spacing up 2.5 feet : bird went through it
#2 chicken wire around pond 2 foot high, fishing line over the pond : bird flew over fence into pond (line was not real tight it collapsed under the bird)
#3 chicken wire, alligator, fishing line over pond, fencing over pond so far bird looks at gator, stares, leaves and eats crickets.

When we get back I will look at different options than the fencing over the pond, pull it and see if the gator(s) keep the bird out.

 

[addy1]

After all you went through I went out and put fish line across my pond w/ one yellow rope also from end to end as a warning to look before you leap in sucka! Cuz we will be taking off in Oct. also and don't want to chance coming home to no fish. Now all I have to worry about is the psycho 13 yr old in the area that wants to seek revenge on me and other neighbors for not allowing him to ride like Evil Kineval down our road. He gets his psychoness from his dad who decided to squirt me w/ the hose several times a couple weeks ago. Cops told him I could press charges as that is considered assault. I chose not to do it tho. Poor cop kept saying to me "I'm so sorry this happened to you". He said he would not be so forgiving if it had happened to him. This is what I get for trying to be nice and keep it all neighborly and being the spokesperson for our neighborhood in dealing w/ this issue. Cop took care of it tho. Told the father and his kid to keep off of our property and never to use a hose as a weapon again or bingo.................go directly to jail! I found out later he was sentenced a few yrs ago to 4yrs in prison for Misprison of a Felony. He received 4 years of probation which included home confinement for 180 days and 200 hours of community service.
Then later he violated the following conditions of his supervised release:
1. Committing the crime of possession of a controlled substance, on or about March 27, 2009, in violation of the general condition that defendant not commit another crime.
I don't know what happened w/ that one yet. If ya wanna know what misprison of a felony is: http://www.law.corne...04----000-.html

Get a security system jw, if nothing else an ip camera, (around 75 dollars) I can help you set it up to watch just the front, record, you could log in and just check that the kid is doing nothing to your house. They can't fight a recording.

Yeah darn birds are breaking all the bird rules............ we have it set up now so hopefully all will be ok until we get back. I have 4 more days of bird testing.

 

[CountryEscape]

Oh my, bad me! I could have sworn the fish you rescued, Addy, some of them turned out to be koi after all. I had no idea that goldfish got as large as those you got. Sorry for the confusion, Larkin!
Well, with your new large goldies and shubies that you acquired, they should do the "birth control" thing for you next year, I would guess, or at least help in the population control. Looks like you will have tons of fish to be selling in the spring as it is.
JW, good for you for standing up to the neighborhood bully and his bratty kid! I once had to do that, stand up to a person that was very threatening to everyone else, but it sure made me feel good and proud about it! And, that adult now realizes that she cannot push me over like she was doing to the others. All this, and I'm only 5'. LOL So, just takes guts, not size, to get the point across. Glad you also stood up! I don't have to worry about bad neighbors where I live, kind of like Addy, I only have 2 neighbors within a mile from my house. Living in the country has it's perks.
So, Addy, what is your game plan if a heron gets inside your enclosure while you are gone, and cannot get out? Do you have someone local that can go get it out of there, or are you going to assume that they won't get inside? I'm one that if you have a plan, you won't need it, and I'm sure you have a plan, just wondering what it is! Wow, you got all that fencing up and now over the pond, too in short order! Once again proving you are a fast worker. Course, your pond area proves that!

 

[addy1]

So, Addy, what is your game plan if a heron gets inside your enclosure while you are gone, and cannot get out? Do you have someone local that can go get it out of there, or are you going to assume that they won't get inside? I'm one that if you have a plan, you won't need it, and I'm sure you have a plan, just wondering what it is! Wow, you got all that fencing up and now over the pond, too in short order! Once again proving you are a fast worker. Course, your pond area proves that!

The neighbors that take care of my baby will do what ever I ask of them. she feeds the fish for me too. If I see a heron caught, or if jw does, she can call us and I will call my neighbor. Ask them to try and get it out of the mess. The fencing they can just release it from the posts and walk it back like peeling a banana. That would let the bird, if it is smart fly out. There is enough gap if it falls in between the rows of fencing, if smart the bird could fly out. So a matter of watching and seeing what happens. I am hoping the birds just give up................yeah right lol

The last time the bird came it went looked at the gator , groomed and walked to the front yard. Maybe 1/2 hour in total. Gave up fast. Rather than the two hour investigation.

 

[j.w]

Addy I'll keep an eye out for any funny business from Harry or his friends and I have your cell # handy by my computer.
I'd like to get a camera to keep an eye on and record stuff that goes on around here. Still thinking about it. Darn kid told me a day ago when I was out walking"Hope you like the feel of paint balls" I called the cops to add the info to the last report I made about him and his idiot father. Police told me to report any threats. That way if anything happens they will have it on record about the threats anyways. Mostly I am worried about the pond. Don't think he knows I have one but if he finds out..........don't want to think about it. I'd rather deal w/a heron!

 

[addy1]

Addy I'll keep an eye out for any funny business from Harry or his friends and I have your cell # handy by my computer.
I'd like to get a camera to keep an eye on and record stuff that goes on around here. Still thinking about it. Darn kid told me a day ago when I was out walking"Hope you like the feel of paint balls" I called the cops to add the info to the last report I made about him and his idiot father. Police told me to report any threats. That way if anything happens they will have it on record about the threats anyways. Mostly I am worried about the pond. Don't think he knows I have one but if he finds out..........don't want to think about it. I'd rather deal w/a heron!

no kidding jw, look at costco get one of the q see systems, not bad prices, I can easily walk you though the set up, if it gives you issues you have 90 days to take it back to them. But at least you could record the pond and the front of your house while you were gone. Hope the kid does not know you all are leaving. keep that real quiet. return it when you get home lol.

 

[j.w]

Nope he knows nothing about us really. He doesn't live on our street and has never been to our house, just our road driving like a fool. I'm not sure he even knows which house is ours. We have close neighbors across our little private road and all look out for each other. Halloween is what I'm most concerned about!

 

[CountryEscape]

Hmm ... maybe you should mention you have a camera so if he comes around, you will have it on tape, maybe that will keep him away, just worrying about getting video taped! Sounds like he's crazy, just like his father. Too bad we can't pick and choose our neighbors! Good luck to both of you, but I agree, JW, I'd rather deal with the heron! At least you can reason with it, to an extent, and give it a chance, rather than a kid that just wants to be a butthead.

 

[j.w]

At this point I think I will just try to avoid him and plan my walks so I don't run into him coming off the school bus. Maybe he will just forget about me. One of the people in his area where he lives said he reminded her of Eddie Haskell in Leave it to Beaver. I think Eddie was mild compared to this kid and would never have put screws on our road facing straight up or ripped our private road sign down.

 

[CountryEscape]

Dang, he is one unhappy kid! Sometimes I wonder when kids do this type of destructive thing, if they aren't begging for help. Maybe he comes from a abusive home, and it's his way of trying to act cool and mean. And, with a father that is the same way, he really doesn't have a chance sounds like.

 

[j.w]

I think you've hit it right on the head. He does not have a chance w/a father like that. I wish I could talk w/ him and work this out but he just won't and calls every name in the book. He's only 13. What will he be like at 18? Prolly in jail or worse.

 

[CountryEscape]

Bet he's a handful at school, too. It's a bad deal all the way around. Someone needs to be told, and maybe that's part of why the cop was asking about pressing charges ... maybe that's what he needs, a record to get started, so he has something to try to clear up. Or, he will remain a butthead forever, and like you said, be in jail or prison before he turns 18. I bet that cop has had other complaints about him or kids like him ....

 

[j.w]

Oh no it wasn't the kid that the cop was talking about pressing charges............it was at the father for turning the hose on me. They consider that assault. We had no proof that the kid was the one that put the screws on the road but we all know it was him. He was there at the end of the road and he rode down our road to our shop to look around. Orange cones were removed from by our shop and set in front of the screws. Kinda weird like a warning to not drive over the screws or else. The father said the screws looked like some that he had in his garage but then said any kid from the neighborhood could come in and take them. I was just there to let them know that he was not allowed to ride on our road cuz of the way he rides and insurance reasons if he gets hurt. Father then said "I don't care if he gets hurt! Right in front of the kid! Then he squirted me w/ the hose 3 or 4 times. After that I would not leave til the cops were called. He never called so I did when I got home.
The kid is mad cuz we won't let him ride on our rode........it's just that simple. The cop told the kid to stay away from our private road and off all of our properties in here. I was told to call if he ever comes in again.

 

[j.w]

Better talk about the heron again and get off that ugly subject of kid and dad. I didn't see any action today at all at your pond addy. Harry must not like fishing in the rain. Noticed your place was getting wet today. Us too.

 

[CountryEscape]

Good deal, rain keeps them away! We had beautiful sunshine yesterday and again today and tomorrow, so sending it your way, Addy! Watch out, as if Harry and Joe like the sun, you will have to be on the lookout when the pretty weather gets to the east coast. Had frost this morning, though, NOT pretty!