The pond in early spring

Our pond was very successful this summer. We had lots of birds visit the waterfall, including a pair of scarlet tanagers. The fish had babies and so did the frogs.

This fall we have been battling a great blue heron who comes to the pond and wants to eat my pets. I know that when you let a pet outside it becomes part of the food chain, but there are plenty of other fish for the heron to eat. We did lose one fish to him, and it scared the other fish so much that they didn't reappear for a week. They hunkered down in their caves for protection.

We installed a ScareCrow, which is a motion-sensitive sprinkler that is supposed to startle the heron if he comes too close. The time he ate my fish it didn't go off, so we installed a net and we have only seen the heron once since then. I think it may have foiled him and maybe he moved on.

 

A frog relaxing on the net over the pond.