I have been doing a GREAT deal of reading about Heron and how to deal with it at this point.  Amazing, these creatures.  They can actually learn your routine and work around it.

My opening the side door the other day - 2 hours earlier than I normally would have - and seeing this giant bird flying off lends some credence to this prospect.

There are many prospects to getting rid of them, however, the theme of having dogs around is a recurring prospect.  I will be luring my dogs to that pond through use of food.  Oh, there is nothing like food to a Great Dane - or any dog for that matter.  Put a bowl of food out there every day and what do we have? Dogs coming to the immediate side of the pond to see if there is more in it.

Mark is going to work on building a stand for the mannequin head - including arms.  I have several old T-shirst I can put on it.

But the interesting factor was the trip wire.  I don't know that that Heron or those Herons have found the other pond some 15 feet away, but I have to assume they have or will.  The information I have found is that Heron don't land in the pond, they have to land on the ground and then wade into the pond.  I read this many times over for the last couple of years, which really has me scratching my head on the above ground pond that I found the bird flying out of.  That bird could not have waded into that pond, impossible.

But the other pond? So, I am going to put some trip wire on the posts that are all around that pond. Easy enough.  I think the dogs are the best probability of keeping them away if I can get them over there when I am not here.

It was, however, interesting to read what I had already figured out: the fish disappear and you don't see them after a Heron has been around, taking even only one fish on one occasion.  Yes, I figured that, but ---- a smart fish in that above ground pond can easily outsmart the Heron by hiding under that giant Yerba Mensa plant.  I closely inspected that plant today, there is no way for any bird or anything else for that matter to peck through that plant.  A fish - or lots of fish - hiding under it - will not fall victim to a Heron.

So I have my work cut out for me.  I figured that sooner or later, I would be confronted by this situation.

This may be an on-going situation, as from what I have read, these creatures are very persistent birds that actually have a routine and your pond - if they find it - becomes a part of that daily routine.

I can say that I am more motivated for that bird to eliminate this property as a part of it's daily fly-over than it is of coming to dine on  my pond food, ie: Koi and Goldfish.

We'll see.