A Blue Heron got a peck at my Koi a few weeks ago but I luckily came outside to find it out of the pond, I quickly ran over, picked it up and placed it back in the water. He is still alive and was doing fine until the same thing happened this morning! Unfortunately, he got pecked a bit harder a couple times on the head above the eye toward the gill. I again, ran over picked him up and put him back in the water, only this time, he has not recovered as well. After reading some forums on www.koi phen.com/forums I put him in a container, put some neosporin on the wound and put 5 drops on stress coat in there. He is such a Rambo! He is still "dazed" but looks at me when I walk up and is still breathing and moving his fins but he is ?lopsided? I am not sure that he will pull through... The other Koi didn't come up from the bottom of the pond until later this afternoon... poor things :(

The great thing about the Scarecrow is that it requires a heat signature as well as movement which is why slow moving predators get zapped as well as the faster ones and wind blown grasses and waterfalls won't set it off. I did discover that the highest splash from it is light enough that small birds love to set it off. A group of them will sit in the tall Marissi Viburnum until one flies low enough to trigger the spray then they all have fun in the shower. It attracts the squirrels and chippers, too but they aren't smart enough to set it off, so they come running when they see the birds flock. They did figure out the outside reach of the spray after getting knocked head over heels a few times. I have caught myself a few times and once or twice a group of teens trying to find a shortcut to the high school, and also, a couple of landscapers were caught by the spray. Not only does it keep away the predators, it is great entertainment. The only resistant critters are the large dogs that sometimes get out of their yards. I think they play with the garden hose at home. Sandy

I love watching herons. When they fly off, their wingspan is so much wider than I expect it to be. I used to bike a lot and would stop at a lake and watch a heron hunt minnows and frogs while I had a rest. Sometimes I would spook the heron (not on purpose) and I'd get to see it take off overhead. When DH & I go fishing I often spend more time watching the skies for birds esp. herons than I do casting!

lol My neighbors think I'm crazy. They caught me crawling over the 6' privacy fence in my bathrobe one day trying to get a picture of an elusive Ovenbird that was under their lilac bush. I think I've scarred them for life!