Tanglefree Great Blue Heron Decoy

The other day I watched with amusement out my window, as a nature loving couple were floating along in a small boat and caught sight of my plastic heron perched just inside the water perimeter. They enthusiastically took photos and a video. It wasn't until they were just a few feet away that they realized it was moulded plastic and looked around in embarrassment hoping no one else noticed. Herons are very territorial and will avoid infringing on another member's personal space.. People who have expensive Koi ponds especially, want some strategy to keeping the hungry diners away. I put up my Heron because the local live ones here in South Florida were eating every baby duck and goose within days of their birth. Were the locals fooled? Yes, and no. Initially they were wary. The problem is they realize something's fishy when the statue doesn't move for days. Some have advised the need to reposition the statue periodically to maintain the illusion. Maintaining a Kabuki Theatre isn't something I have time to indulge in. So my experiment met with mixed results. One thing to note is that the anchor post that positions the statue is also plastic. It should push easily into loose mud, but if the ground is packed or stony you'll easily damage or destroy the post. My solution was to buy a steel rod from Home Depot, cut one end at a spear like angle and pounding that in the soil. The plastic post is hollow and so readily slipped over the metal shaft making the whole thing very stable, but not conducive to moving around at a whim. Even though it wasn't 100% effective for my intended purpose, esthetically it's very lifelike and a nice addition to the view, so I do recommend it.

Good quality, great coloration, almost looks like a real bird. If you're buying it as a deterrent to keep a live Heron off our pond, then make sure to relocate, and move it around your pond every other day. But do not rely on it. Heron's are super smart, even if you keep relocating it, they will soon figure out that its not real. Use in a combination with other deterrents. I found Yard Sentinels to be the most effective at keep Heron off my Koi pond. They require power and are less convenient but they do the job.

If you are having Heron problems then you need this!!! We heard about this decoy from our neighbors who like us have koi fish ponds. We have a very large pond and I witnessed twice a pesky heron take two of our fish. We put the decoy on rocks next to pond when it arrived. The herron flew around for about a week but did not go near our pond. Its now been 2 months and he is gone and we have no more issues. The key to the success is moving the decoy every day to a different spot- do this for 2 weeks and then move the decoy every few weeks. No more losing our precious fish!!!

It’s a nice looking decoy. We have a sitting by our pond. It’s become a gathering place for all the blue herons in our area. It doesn’t‘s scare the blue herons away it attracts them. We normally have about two blue herons standing around pond since we got the new decoy we’re up to 10 and counting. We are currently planning to move the decoy to another pond about 25 miles from our house. If you like blue herons this is definitely the decoy to Attract them.

We bought this heron decoy to scare other (live) herons away from our small pond, which has over two hundred catfish. The pond is only two feet deep and makes an ideal fishing ground for herons, which have been a nuisance for years. Well Harry, as we nicknamed him, has been on duty for a month now, and there are no live herons around. He's great; we move him every three-to-four days to a new spot around the pond, so other herons don't get use to him. It's amazing, as we've tried everythhing to stop these birds from netting, to fencing, to monofilament lines criss-crossing the pond - nothing works, except Harry. He was a great investment.

Not sure that the ducks care about it as a security notice but the Herons and wrens hate it so it’s lifelike. The feet are a pain if you are jumping it and out of your duck hide and it definitely doesn’t fit well in a decoy bag. If you are permanently fixing it somewhere than I’d give it 5 stars.

Delivery from seller was just fine. UPS didn't do a good job in their shipping. The box had taken a real beating. Product was not damaged, but UPS tried, I'll give them that. This Heron is made of 100% plastic, which is good for the outdoor weather, but the paint was chipping off every time I touched it. Looks like acrylic paint over plastic. Doesn't stick well. The legs of the plastic Heron are suppose to go into two holes in the belly. The legs do not fit snugly into the body portion and keep falling out, no matter how hard I tried. The decoy is very lightweight and really looks like the real thing. I suggest that you move the Heron around your pond every so often, so any frequent fly-over Herons, don't get the idea that the decoy isn't a real bird. With shipping, my order cost a little over $38.00, shipped from California. Considering that the parts do not fit well or very loosely in the body holes and the fact that the paint is very delicate, this bird is probably over-priced. If he does the trick to protect my prized Koi's though, then this decoy is priceless.

This works well to fend off the blue herons who have been preying on our koi in our backyard pond. The first day we had it a blue heron came and seemed to be trying to flirt with the decoy, it was pretty funny. but he hasn't come back since.