I use a owl decoy :o)

Had the same problem a couple of years ago, scared the heck out of my wife and lost a bunch of comets. We picked up a mock heron made of plastic on a steel post at the local garden center @ $ 30.00, a bit much in my opinion at the time, but no heron since. We lost most of our our fish with the first assault of one of these guys but haven't seen one since we put the "stand-in" up. From what I could find the heron is a solitaire bird so company is not what they are looking for. GOOD LUCK

I have a question about the owl decoy ... will it scare away all birds, even the little song birds? I know people use owl decoys to keep birds away from their gardens & such & was wondering if this kept all birds away. I kinda like seeing the little birds around.

Haven't paid must attention to the small birds but the crows DO NOT like it at all they used to land in a near by field and pitch a fit about the owl. The crows used to come in the yard and steal the dry dog food out of my dog dish they don't do it anymore :o)

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:196518}}

I had a heron coming by. He snagged 2 of my bigger koi. Although I had heard mixed results from using an owl decoy I opted to try it. So far, its worked well. No sign of the Heron since. And the hawk that lives in my neighborhood also seems to be staying away from the pond. You can get an owel decoy pretty cheap. I paid $16 for mine. So, its definitely worth trying out.

If the owl does not work, the "scarecrow" motion detection sprinklers are really the only effective option that I have seen short of netting the whole pond off. Google "Scarecrow sprinkler" and you'll find a lot of sellers of them. They will keep away pretty much any varmints.

We started out with a heron decoy...seemed the heron liked ours a little too much and wiped out half my koi... so we moved on to the scarecrow motion activated water sprayer. Then we bought the owl decoy and it seems the owl made all the difference. Still though I spend most of my summer looking out the window with some apprehension. Geez I thought ponding was supposed to be stress free. I always thought herons were the most beautiful birds but now when I see one I shudder.

I have had good luck using a floating alligator in the pond. No herons since!!

The monster attacked my pond although we were standing about 10 feet away. I now have 2 heron decoys, a scarecrow water cannon and netting streched over a gazebo frame set up over the pond. I haven't seen the heron in a while so I'm not sure which if anything worked and I'm afraid to take any of it away. I just have to get used to it I guess. Actually the gazebo frame doesn't look half bad. Sandy

I have lost fish two different seasons to a heron. After the first attack I got a plastice heron and it seemed to work. No attacks the following year. But then last year we lost 3 more fish. I caught him in my yard a few days later, but I scared him away. Now, I'm not sure what to do this year. I saw this motion sensored singing tucan and I wondered if that would do anything??? Maybe I'll try the owl too. Just thought I would post that I still got attacked even with the plastic heron. Of course maybe I needed to move him around more!!