blue herons "not that anybody cares"

[peejman]

THey are beautiful but I had one of the dang things to take a dive at my koi pond. I wonder if they know how lucky they are that I'm in city limits.

Heh. A friend also had a heron fishing in his koi pond. It was quickly becoming simply a pond.

I've seen lots of these around my parents' house on Soddy lake. They also have a Bald Eagle nesting pair nearby. We haven't found the nest, but have seen two adults and a juvenile on many occasions.

[Guest bkelm18]

I've seen a couple herons hangin around the marina here in OR.

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

I think they are beautiful.. thank you for sharing them..

Eventually they will open hunting season on them.. sadly

[laktrash]

I think they are beautiful.. thank you for sharing them..

Eventually they will open hunting season on them.. sadly

Hopefully we'll never see this. I think they we're almost extinct at one time. maybe not extinct but a very small population.

After all look at the geese and they're still protected

[JAB]

The 'Great Blues' get in our pond on pretty much a daily basis in the Spring/Summer and less frequently during other times of the year. Kind of hard to keep a decent stock of bluegill with them gobbling up all the smaller ones. Honestly, they are pretty common to see around Loudon. Generally speaking, birds may be my favorite animals but I wouldn't mind seeing a hunting season on the Great Blues. I wouldn't go hunting them 'in the wild' but would sure as heck blast the ones that think our fishing pond is a free, all they can eat buffet.

As for how they taste, I don't know but I have seen a list where a cook in the middle ages, preparing for a feast at one castle or another, was ordering supplies. One of the things on the menu was herons. I can't, currently, find the link/page where that supply list is located but I did find this page, which contains a description of a feast presented by a nobleman in 1455.

http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-banquet-feast.htm

Notice that heron is listed among the meats prepared for the feast. Whether or not the Great Blues we see are similar to the type they were eating I don't know. I seem to recall, though, that the list I can't currently locate also included other fowl such as geese, peacocks and cranes.

Edited April 12, 2011 by JAB

[Caster]

Why does this picture make me want to watch The Karate Kid?

[peejman]

Why does this picture make me want to watch The Karate Kid?

That's the crane technique. This is a heron....

[leroy]

JAB:_________________

RE: this:

...I wouldn't go hunting them 'in the wild' but would sure as heck blast the ones that think our fishing pond is a free, all they can eat buffet. ...

I would never shoot a herron; they are too great. I wouldn't worry about "scaring" them though.

We used to do some cowboy action shooting, until the son got too busy to fool with it. We used an old sidehammer double shotgun with blackpowder loads. Ya may want to consider loading up some Winchester AA's or Magtec brass shells with FFg black powder, and make some blanks. We used a load of about 95 grains of FFg. It makes a helluva noise and a great plume of white smoke. It might make the herrons nervous until they figure out there aint any shot in the rounds you are firing.

The blackpowder blanks are easy to make. We just measured the powder with a blackpowder rifle powder measure and used some hard cardboard overwads (..ya can get ready-made wads from places like cabelas or reloading places, when they are set, just glue them in with elmers white school glue and let em dry...). I used a 5/8 dia dowel and a small hammer to seat the wads and tighten down the powder (...be REAL CAREFUL HERE!!!..), not too hard and make sure that the primer is protected from being hit against whatever you use for an "anvil". We used a hardwood block with a hole where the primer sits. I also think using a large blackpowder revolver (...like a dragoon...) would make plenty of noise too.

I like both these ideas because it is guaranteed to make the neighbors nervous. They will most likely think that you are crazy. In lots of places thats a good thing too. That will cause them to speak softly to you and measure their words carefully in case of any "disputes" or "differences of opinion". Remember, it is always better to negotiate from a position of perceived strength and unreasonability than to be "reasonable".

Somethin to think about

leroy

leroy

Edited April 13, 2011 by leroy

[leroy]

Deleted. Double post. Aint too swift this mornin!!

leroy

Edited April 13, 2011 by leroy

[strickj]

I care.

Herons are about the only birds that I care to watch.

[leroy]

strickj:_______________

Great picture!!! ^^^^^^

leroy