Tuesday, September 12, 2006
The attack of the Blue Heron
The sagga of the pond continues...... We have been visited by the Great Blue Heron on more than one occasion to the dismay of the fishes.
The first attack came without warning and we were unprepared, hence the loss of one life, our poor tri- colored long fin gold fish....A moment of silence.....
In chasing the large bird away I must admit to a small amount of awe creeping in. This bird stands 5 ft. tall and when taking off resembles a prehistoric giant with its 6 ft wing span. Still the reality remains.....THE WAR IS ON.
That very evening we bought and errected a netted cover, that is really made to keep out leaves, to see if the winged warrior was up to the challenge. He returned the next day and to our happy observations he looked at the pond, pecked a few times at the net and flew away.
We decided to leave the net up for fall and it's a good thing we did. A smaller, younger Heron arrived the next day but he also left with an empty stomach. The Turner pond buffet is now closed too all hungry Herons who may stop by in the future. The last one did leave a large white deposit, the size of a pancake on one of our big rocks. I guess we know what he thinks of our line of defense.
The first attack came without warning and we were unprepared, hence the loss of one life, our poor tri- colored long fin gold fish....A moment of silence.....
In chasing the large bird away I must admit to a small amount of awe creeping in. This bird stands 5 ft. tall and when taking off resembles a prehistoric giant with its 6 ft wing span. Still the reality remains.....THE WAR IS ON.
That very evening we bought and errected a netted cover, that is really made to keep out leaves, to see if the winged warrior was up to the challenge. He returned the next day and to our happy observations he looked at the pond, pecked a few times at the net and flew away.
We decided to leave the net up for fall and it's a good thing we did. A smaller, younger Heron arrived the next day but he also left with an empty stomach. The Turner pond buffet is now closed too all hungry Herons who may stop by in the future. The last one did leave a large white deposit, the size of a pancake on one of our big rocks. I guess we know what he thinks of our line of defense.
