There are white herons BTW. Egrets are smaller than white herons. I use a black bird net bought at Wal-mart. I pounded six 24" rebar, 3 to a side. I then put black plastic piping over the rebar to it arches over the pond. On top of that I stretched the netting and secured it with electrical zip fasteners in various places. I can lift the whole thing off or just one end if I need to access part of the pond and slip it right back on when done. I live in Great Blue Heron land and they fly over my house at any time. After a few years of no fish being eaten I thought I'd take it off and put up a double row of fencing on the edge and also strung fishing line in triple rows. It was not a day or two the heron came back and ate another fish, so I put my portable net back up. My net extends beyond the edges of the pond by about 12 to 18 inches but is open by about 12" so frogs can move in and out safely and also birds. Herons won't duck under it. From nancyd: "Use bird netting - it's virtually undetectable and cheap. I've purchased decorative four foot posts and stretch the netting over them so that it hangs 3/4 of the way down the posts. This allows birds, toads and frogs access to the pond without getting caught in it. Easy to pull off when you need to. The only thing I've sacrificed are dragonflies. They don't like flying under the net unfortunately. We have not lost a single fish since we put up the netting." I like the idea of using decorative poles so I may switch out my black tubing. The black netting is invisible from not so far away from the pond, but I can see my piping even though it looks OK I'd rather not see much at all. I'd like this to go straight across with no hanging down and take it out beyond the pond edge right up to the pondside plantings. I think I would like it to be 12" off the top of the water and pulled very tight. Thanks for the idea Nancy!

I use a net. I just feel safer after numerous heron attacks. It's not that bad - virtually invisible until you get close. I don't like the idea of fishing line because we have a dog who would run right into it and I don't want to hurt him. Also, we like to get into the pond periodically to fertilize and maintain the plants. All we have to do it take off the net. I don't want to mess with fishing line. We've come up with a pretty good system I think. We drive 4 foot stakes in the pond (3 feet when done) and secure the net to the tops and sides of the stakes keeping it about 6 inches from the bottom so the frogs and birds still have access. But I think the line would probably work if that's the way you want to go. I fence our pond over winter so no one accidentally steps into it - we can get many feet of snow in a season and the fence gives me a guideline since it's right off our patio. Also keeps the dog off it. By the time I can get the net on in the spring, no herons have figured out how to cross the fence - however that hasn't stopped them from visiting. I'm sure they're taking notes! Our fencing is 2-1/2 feet tall. Be sure you string the line as close to the edges of your pond as you can. If the heron can fly into your pond and land on something, the line will be useless.

here is a shot of a great egret. notice that the egret has black legs and a thinner and brighter bill

"I prefer the term 'coastal' to beachy. LOL" Me too! This discussion is of interest to me as we are finishing a gut remodel of our house that we bought as a second home. I decorated fast and inexpensively with a lot of beachy themed stuff from furniture to wall art. Baskets of shells, baskets in general, walls painted shades of fairly intense blue and aqua etc. Lots of beachy Home Goods type artwork for the walls. 5 years later we live here full time and I'm more than ready to switch out from the Margaritaville AirBnB theme decor style. Eld, I love your look and I think you are spot on with your colors, style and decor. Here is more than anyone probably cares to know about how I'm trying to achieve the same blend and mix. I'm going for a coastal modern mix. White shaker cabinets in our kitchen, both bathrooms and office. This is my quartz countertop inthe kitchen and office. Kitchen is getting black bar pulls and black faucet to play off the veining in the counters. Maybe a black simple chandelier over the dining room table which will hopefully be this if it comes back in stock along with some kind of natural fiber chairs. And I'm putting these countertops in the bathroomsalong with a coastal blue/green mosaic shower surround tile with these faucets. Here's the store picture of my new couch, loveseat (didn't buy the chair) and coffee/end tables though I probably won't use all three of the tables together. Our windows have white plantation shutters so the above is similar to what the view looks like above our couch-our windows aren't quite so lavish though. In my house if you are standing at this angle in my living room, to the left are a pair of 12-foot sliders that face the water. So the room is flooded with light all the time. That slider along with 3 other large ones are all getting Hunter Douglas white roller shades, again a simple coastal look with a modern twist. Our new flooring is light wood look tile that's 5 feet long and 12 inches wide-again coastal but with a modern feel, not a wood facsimile. I'll be using some jute area rugs. Using this Benjamin Moore color for the 'public' rooms: kitchen, bathrooms, living room, hallway and office. It reads as a neutral but with a very, very pale blue tinge, enough to make a nice contrast with our trim which is squared off large base and door molding painted white. Bedrooms will be this Sherwin-Williams color which again is a super pale calming hint of green neutral. For art I'm thinking of stealing an idea I saw somewhere and liked a lot: enlarging some vintage family pictures to poster size and framing them with a simple metal or black frame. I've got tons of pictures of parents, kids and my spouse in natural/water settings so I'm hoping that will be a nice way to have a personal touch while keeping things simple. And last but not least I'm leaning toward a couple of Audobon bird prints so I'm right there with you Eld! Flamingo is a no brainer, again large and framed very simply. Probably another tropical/shore bird like a pelican or anhinga. So there you have it and once again Eld your home looks beautiful so go for what you want!