I didn't know they would do that. But they do look similar to a heron, so I guess it stands to reason. So far the egrets don't come in my yard. When they first appeared here this spring, I ran out screaming at them every time they landed in my yard. Now they take a wide berth around mine but I see them in the neighboring yards.

BTW, I have a neighbor with a dog just like that. Is he a big sweetie?

Laughing right now, but screaming at them is what I'd do too. I imagine Arturo had a few choice words for this bird also. It may be a heron. Arturo called it an egret. As for the dog -- he is gorgeous and a sweetheart!!! Maybe your neighbor's dog is a brother ... :-)

There are several egrets that do fish, I usually see them around shallow lake edges. So sorry for his pet!

Incidentally, I had forgotten Arturo's dog's name. It is Chula, which means 'cute' in Spanish. Chula's mother is great pyrenness and it's thought that his father is an Australian shepard,
thus the badger face

Beautiful dog and egrets are kind of lazy, they follow cows around to eat and fish from small ponds. I hate hearing it was a pet fish, we lost all of ours at the old place to snakes but at least I didn't witness those losses

I have an acquaintance who got rid of her pond because great blue herons would raid it of her koi and goldfish.

On certain blogs I've seen decorative wrought iron pieces placed over fish ponds to keep the fish out. It might also keep the racoons out too. They also like to get in ponds and mess things up. My friend, Linda M. in Seguin, woke up one morning to find her HUGE pond planted with many water lilies and fish empty. The racoons had torn up the plastic liner. Genius that she is she then made a 'sunken garden' out of it ... :-)

That would make me sick roselee. We've got a water scarecrow that I got for Christmas a couple of years ago and never have hooked up. I need to do that but I'm a little afraid of the hose bursting in the middle of the night. Herons got all my goldfish and all but one koi last year. We didn't replace them until this spring.

How deep are your ponds. I hear that if you make them a certain depth, the fish can get to safety. Is that true. What depth is safe for fish?

Ha! That's about right. I live on the north side of Sabine lake, right where it splits into the neches and Sabine rivers. There's a little place I go fishing around town... Anyways, those birds are everywhere and will even sit there staring at you while you cast net for bait! If you drop one, they'll hastily hobble on over to try to get it. They aren't very graceful doing it, so it's always a bit funny. They also have guts, getting so close to humans to try to get food. I think it's just that they've been out there and they know that someone is gonna drop a bait fish and no one is gonna fight the bird for it!

My koi pond is 4 feet deep, but there is a raised lotus pot in the center and the heron stood on that. The lower pond is for water lilies and goldfish, and it is 18 inches. If the goldfish would reproduce quickly, it wouldn't be a problem, but I must have had all males or all females. Never saw any young with that group.