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 female heron was attacked by a Great Horned Owl twice, early in the morning on April 8 and 9, while she was incubating the eggs. She wasn't noticeably harmed and the eggs are OK. No attack this morning. A little unpleasant reality injected into the pastoral scene. Cornell posted a video on YouTube. Great Horned Owl attacks Great Blue Heron in Sapsucker Woods Claire

Great blue heron rookeries are few and far between. I vote to leave them alone. We have one heron rookery in Milwaukee County, WI, and the DNR is watching that one. It has been in decline in recent years and it is feared that the heron reporduction may cease. Its at the edge of a swampy location. The rookery trees have died and there are no replacements. Some of the decline is due to expanding development of housing and harrasment by boys. This rookery has been responsible for most of the heron population in a 10 mile radius. This has been declared a protected site. Yes, the herons do eat trout along with any other species of fish it may find. They also spear frogs, toads, and small snakes, and just about anything that wiggles in water.

Really nice, Joan. I wish I had access to water birds. So beautiful.....