Herons - Are they predators?

[Lifetime chicken lover]

Wow! I've been spending my time worrying about the hawks and eagles- I never thought to worry about the herons!!!!! I thought they were mainly bug eaters. The things you learn on BYC! I love it!

 

[TK421]

Woodmort is absolutely correct. While it's possible they can take chicks and ducklings, it would be very uncommon to have one lurking around a chicken run. If the little peeps are down by the water, they would be in much greater danger.

I would stop short of calling great blue herons "predators" in this forum, due to the zeal that could be equated with such a word. Yes, technically it is a predatory bird, but not nearly on the level with so many other species of wildlife.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

We periodically have great blue herons in hte neighborhood. First time it perched atop one of my Italian cypress trees. GoldeMaine alerted and the while flock froze. I was out feeding them and started looking all over before I saw him/her. Flew off a bit later. Unfortunately for my neighbors, he/she/they are now common visitors to their ponds. The one on my tree, I think it was just taking a break durign its flight from one lake to another.

 

[babyblue]

Quote:
I suppose it is possible but herons are given a bad rap. I'd have to catch them at it before I'd accuse them. Baby ducks, maybe but the red winged black birds on my pond seem to ignore the heron when it shows up and they are nesting down there. I have never seen a heron take any animal or fish "on the fly" either--they generally stalk it. These aren't raptors that use talons but they stab or grab their prey with their bills.

dh would be out side yelling and trying to chase them away and watch them doing it. he was just a kid at the time so there wasn’t much he could do to change the setup to prevent it. little ducks and chicks are the perfect size for them to snap up, heck the fish we watch them take out of the pond are many times bigger then the chicks. my point being if its available and they are hungry they will take what they can get.

 

[jerseygirl1]

Since it ate my chicks, to me personally it is a predator, it's just one I never would have thought of. There are PLENTY of fish around here, our property has a creek running through it. Now, as for disposing of it, I would NEVER harm something based on what it has been put on earth to do to survive. Now, if it were a rabid raccoon, that would be different.

And, I was there, it was LURKING around my chicken run, facing it. For about 15 minutes. And the creek on our property, faces the OTHER direction.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
Yes, i would call it a predator too. If they will eat ducklings and chicks they are predators.

 

[mgw]

I saw a blue heron speer a muskrat out at the lake once it was impressive. people with bakyard ponds around herehave problems with them eating thier fish out of them. They buy statues of herons & put them near thier ponds. Herons are territorial so they wont invade each others space. All of them say this works. Would be worth a try.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Since we have seen herons pretty much side-by side at the local lake, I really doubt this works reliably. And not just the great blues, but also the greens, night-crowned and occasional white egret. They are often, but not always, a few feet (5' to 20') separated along the shore line. A month or two ago we saw several neotropic cormorants immediately adjacent to a great blue heron, and they all seemed to get along fine.

 

[mgw]

Quote:
Since we have seen herons pretty much side-by side at the local lake, I really doubt this works reliably. And not just the great blues, but also the greens, night-crowned and occasional white egret. They are often, but not always, a few feet (5' to 20') separated along the shore line. A month or two ago we saw several neotropic cormorants immediately adjacent to a great blue heron, and they all seemed to get along fine.

maybe not at the lake but at someones small backyard pond is a different story. Even the pond supply stores around here reccomed doing this.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Since we have seen herons pretty much side-by side at the local lake, I really doubt this works reliably. And not just the great blues, but also the greens, night-crowned and occasional white egret. They are often, but not always, a few feet (5' to 20') separated along the shore line. A month or two ago we saw several neotropic cormorants immediately adjacent to a great blue heron, and they all seemed to get along fine.

maybe not at the lake but at someones small backyard pond is a different story. Even the pond supply stores around here reccomed doing this.

Not a very big lake--pretty small series of 3 lakes in a business park. They are always at the middle lake, which is the larges, has the most shade and is the best stocked. I've seen multiple egrets in small ponds.