Great Blue Heron Reruns!

SATURDAY, JULY 10, 2010


Great Blue Heron Reruns!

We had another visit from the bird that thinks the fish pond in our back yard is his personal Smörgåsbord. He is starting to act like it is The Place to stop and grab a quick snack.


I did not catch him strutting around the shallow pool like last time. When I went outside and screamed at him he hopped up on the edge of the pond, shook off, gave me an evil look and flew to a tree next door waiting for me to go back inside. I interrupted his meal.

This time he was sitting on a roof within comfortable striking distance. Instantly his legs would be wet if I let up my vigilance for even a moment. I was positive he had already been in the pool because not a single fish was to be seen as I stood next to the pool food in hand ready to dole out their chow.

For almost three weeks all of my highly trained circus fish stayed concealed somewhere in the dark waters after Mr. Heron’s first visit. I had thought we lost all of them, that he had completely emptied the buffet of everything seafood.

Eventually all the fish left could no longer resist the daily infusion of kitty kibbles floating in the east end of the pool. I calculated we only lost three. They remembered the big guy with the food and forgot about the heron. They zoomed to the surface once more taking food from my hand.

I had no idea where they went for the time that there was no evidence of their residence. Maybe they hitched a ride with the leopard frog that seems to come and go. Usually he is hiding when I go out to feed the fish. I know that Mr. Heron did not eat Mr. Frog because Mr. Frog is extremely quick and quite wary. He disappears as soon as I open the back door to go outside. Last summer I completely emptied the pond and cleaned it. There was no frog. I often wonder how he ever found the pond to begin with. I am pretty sure the heron found it because our neighbor cut down the trees in his back yard so grass could grow there.

Our fish do not sit on the wall of the pond until I open the back door like Mr. Frog. The have adopted the ‘remain absolutely hidden’ strategy. I know some of them are still in the pond because a few come to the top of the water like attack submarines and then make crash dives after nabbinig a kibble. I saw Jaws the large gaudy koi. There is no mistaking his aggressive swirls and fluorescent markings. He no longer lurks just below the surface surrounded by his smaller friends ready to take a bite of food from my fingers.

Our school of fish stopped acting like piranhas ready to consume the sacrificial cow as it wades into the Amazon. They hang back cautiously if you can even see them even when the kibbles cover the surface of the water.

I am relying on my behavioral training to help me get the fish to start doing what had previously given me so much pleasure. They used to act like DakotaDawg when I came home from work shooting one way and then another. Not any more, they are nowhere to be seen.

When I go out to the pool now I tap a rock on the bricks to let the fish know that the food is coming... it is not Mr. Heron trying to pull some Pavlovian trick. It is safe. With persistence I am sure I can make this work.


Right up until the Great Blue Heron returns again. We’ll be waiting.
© 07.10.2010 steven d philbrick SR+ DakotaDawg
POSTED BY SRPLUS AT 8:57 AM