LenG
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Location: new jersey

Great Blue Herons

We garden in NJ and have had a pond for about 3 years--this year before the pond partially iced up a few weeks ago a great blue heron had to be constantly chased away--we don't know if he got any of our fish--we've never encountered such perserverance from the herons before. Does anyone have any suggestions? Regards, Len

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rainbowgardener
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Great blue herons are so beautiful! I go out on camping trips to places where I can see them. Buy more fish! :)

LenG
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Location: new jersey

>Great blue herons are so beautiful! <

We used to be more avid bird watchers before we got into gardening--now the gardening is much more of a hobby for us. Still when we visit the out doors and see the birds we still get excited. One thing we don't like is how some of the public gardens are being ruined by those pesky Canadian Geese. Regards, Len :)

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

I don't have a pond but have been thinking about it a while so a couple of products I,ve noticed in catalogs are arched frame/netting kit that you can put over your pond -- excludes cats, raccoons (supposedly) and birds as well as fall leaves -- and a heron statue which I didn't understand until I read somewhere that herons are solitary and avoid a pond already staked out by another heron. HTH.

I love seeing a heron at our local community pond. :D Never seen more than one at a time except during mating season, and only in flight at that time.

LenG
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> arched frame/netting kit that you can put over your pond -- excludes cats, raccoons (supposedly) and birds as well as fall leaves <

Our pond is just too big to cover it with a net--and with the leaves it would be too heavy to even pick up.

>Never seen more than one at a time except during mating season, and only in flight at that time.<

We like to go the National wildlife Refuges and we see loads of herons if we're there at the right time of year. Regards, Len

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applestar
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Well, wetlands and lakes with plenty of cover are different from open ponds, even large ones that measure in acres. I often go to municipal parks with large pond/small lake and I usually only see herons individually. So....

I guess only other suggestion I have for you is a dog if you are willing to train it to chase away the heron. :wink:

LenG
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Location: new jersey

>I guess only other suggestion I have for you is a dog if you are willing to train it to chase away the heron.<

Well thanks but I guess it's a danger we'll just have to live with. We will look into the idea of a heron statue. We got a large owl the first year and thought it would do the job--it seemed that for a a few years we were left alone. But this year the great blue has been very persistent. As someone said if we have to buy more fish so be it. Now the pond has a layer of ice over it except where the aerator is on. It will be fascinating to see what survives when we get back into the gardening in the spring. Regards, Len

shadowsmom
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LenG wrote:We garden in NJ and have had a pond for about 3 years--this year before the pond partially iced up a few weeks ago a great blue heron had to be constantly chased away--we don't know if he got any of our fish--we've never encountered such perserverance from the herons before. Does anyone have any suggestions? Regards, Len
Hi - I'm in NJ too and have had problems with herons snatching snacks from my pond. I float a kiddie ball in the pond and cover it with netting. It's the kind to keep leaves out of the pond (black) but it works equally well keeping the heron out.

I lost quite a few fish before I actually caught a heron in the act and figured out who the culprit was. I would find blood on the snow and figured it was a raccoon, but it wasn't.

Good luck!

LenG
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Location: new jersey

>I would find blood on the snow and figured it was a raccoon, but it wasn't. <

We have racoons here but they seem to leave the pond alone. Someone told us that when the fish are active-spring through fall they're too fast for the fish? I do bring the 5 bird feeders in every night because otherwise the racoon would get at them--one night we turned on the out door lights and sure enough he was climbing up the pole and reached over to grab the bird feeder with the suet. The claws seemed to work just like human fingers. So now in addition to all the other gardening chores I gotta bring in the bird feeders. Regards, Len :)

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rainbowgardener
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Are your raccoons still around and active in the winter? We have raccoons around all the time as long as it is warm, but they seem to disappear as soon as the snow flies. I assumed they were hibernating. They are back every spring, usually with babies. (But our raccoon population does not get bigger and bigger, so either some don't make it through the winter or they go find their own territories.)

The squirrel proof feeders with the cage around them
( [url=https://www.duncraft.com/index/page/product/product_id/2468/category_id/145/product_name/Squirrel+Proof+Sonata]squirrel proof feeder[/url] )

seem to discourage the raccoons too. We don't bring them in, even when the raccoons are around.

shadowsmom
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Location: NJ

Raccoons don't hibernate totally, they just sleep a lot but do get up and may hunt a little. I've seen them around the pond in the winter and checked up on it because I was a little concerned about rabies, which we've had around us.

I only put my bird feeders out from 5:30 am to 7:00 am because of the bear that was climbing over my 6 ft fence and visiting. I never had this problem until this past fall. The birds seem to have caught on that the restaurant is only open in the early morning.

LenG
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Location: new jersey

>Are your raccoons still around and active in the winter?<

We haven't seen any racoons on our property since I started the practice of bringing the feeders in every night. We do see dead racoons sometimes on the road around our area which is pretty countrified.

> The squirrel proof feeders with the cage around them <

Squirrels are another big concern but we've pretty much thwarted them--we have a squirrel baffle from Duncraft and also we bought from Duncraft a very large pole. The birds are pretty sloppy eaters and alot of the seed drops to the ground--still the squirrels don't seem to be able to reach the feeders.

The major garden critter problem we no longer have to worry about is a fence to keep the deer out--we put that in shortly after starting gardening up here about 15 years ago and it has just helped us out superbly--without that fence we'd be in terrible shape! Regards, Len

LenG
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Joined: Sun Dec 19, 2010 7:39 am
Location: new jersey

>I only put my bird feeders out from 5:30 am to 7:00 am because of the bear that was climbing over my 6 ft fence and visiting. <

We know there are bears out here but none has ever come on our property. My wife is in a garden club and many of the members out here have had encounters with bears. Regards, Len



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