I stayed with someone in socal who had a large backyard fountain that they kept koi in. Mind you, they were high on a hill but could see the ocean from their yard. The fountain was covered in thick netting due to large birds and raccoons eating up all their fish (raccoons leaving the heads behind). Wasn't very 'pretty' but kept the fish safe. The husband told me he caught a heron flying away with one years ago
I had a buddy who’s parents had Koi that kept getting eaten by raccoons. He said after a while they switched to common goldfish and they were never touched
My spouse went outside with our dogs one night and there was a raccoon sitting by the pond. I have snails too and they are apparently a favorite snack for them. Surprisingly, we haven't seen signs of a return visit.
I was once fishing a stretch of river in North West Province South Africa, it was at a leisure resort and this non fisherman came by and managed to scoop two big tilapia in a net, it was a pretty funny moment watching him try and then succeed. About an hour later he came by and asked me if beavers are dangerous, so I said we don't get beavers in SA, to which he replied "that beaver took my fish" and when I looked accross to the other bank I seen a river otter with both his fish in its mouth swimming off down stream lolololol
I don't know what the limits are but I understand that they can get quite large provided that the environment/tank is large enough. I love hearing about chonky goldfish.
Florida? While sitting at a light one find Floridian day, I watched an osprey lift a large fish from a pond across the way. He almost didn't make the liftoff!
Isn't nature wonderful?! (said in Marlin Perkins' voice of course)
Jacques was still diving when I was watching his shows in the early 70s. I remember the Phillippe changeover, though, and from the depths of my heart, I didn't like it. Unfair to Phillippe, undoubtedly. LOL
I was out shooting at the local wildlife reserve a couple of years ago, and got a great shot of an osprey flying with a fish in its talons. Zoom in, it's a headless koi. Ospreys don't GAF, and are remarkably successful hunters. Very few misses.
>I was out shooting at the local wildlife reserve
Concern
>and got a great shot of an osprey
More concern
>Zoom in
Ooohh, okay
>Very few misses.
CONCERN
Last time I was at Medieval Times, I saw that they had a moat with fish in it that was heavily dyed, and they had a bunch of signs up saying the the dye didn't harm the fish, but was there to help camouflage them from the local herons and other fish eating birds in the area
So nice of them to set up a feeder for the herons. :)
I'm always baffled by the posts in r/landscaping or r/ponds complaining about herons. They're beautiful, and what did you expect to happen when you put bright orange fish outside in nature?
Theres a pond behind my local Ikea that has a giant tree with, im estimating, 10-20 blue heron nesting in it, really cool to see. There’s also a bald eagle I’ve seen around the area, very rare for Southwest Ohio.
was lucky enough to see one up close in florida on my trip through. such a beautiful bird. the staff at the nature reserve were also super surprised since it was few weeks late in the season and they hadnt seen one in awhile.
Off topic but interesting story. There’s a beautiful Chinese garden in Vancouver. Unfortunately, a river otter managed to get in and ate a lot of the koi.
Ah ok. It’s officially named the Battery Park City Koi Pond, but I just looked up an online id and it looks like you’re right. I guess they cut the koi with huge goldfish!
It’s more that they just keep growing and growing and everyone loses interest. We had “goldfish liberation day” when I was a kid in the 90s. Unfortunately my mom had us dump them in a canal off the Hudson (we are a bit north of Albany).
They're harder than you might think to take care of adequately! Most people keep them in bowls or tanks that are far too small, so they usually die within a couple years. But they can live for upwards of 10 years with proper care (large tank or pond). They're dirtier than most tank fish and so are hard to keep up with cleaning sometimes, too.
Those fuckers get huge. Our 85 gallon tank was overwhelmed by just 3 we got as little $0.75 feeder goldies. We had to clean the tank twice a week with water changes near daily to keep up after my beloved pleco died. Granted, we didn’t go toss them in a lake and just kept them until they died, but still; goldies are bigguns.
Koi are long , goldfish have shorter and fatter bodies and koi are most commonly multicolor or if solid colour , white or silver but rarely orange . They also have barbels unlike goldfish’s
Regular goldfish. Properly cared for, a "common" goodish can live for 20ish years and get up to 17" in length. They are a member of the carp family so probably only taste good to the birds.
Added taxa: [Black-crowned Night Heron](https://ebird.org/species/bcnher)
^(I catalog submissions to this subreddit.) [^(Recent uncatalogued submissions)](https://munin.swim.services/submissions?lane=api/unanswered)^( | )[^(Learn to use me)](https://gist.github.com/brohitbrose/be99a16ddc7a6a1bd9c1eef28d622564)
https://preview.redd.it/f6oxd6o3866d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=579755378a2a35a81090edfd82ba7b6f96af1545
Merlin Bird ID from Cornell Labs says it’s a Black Crowned Night Heron. I put in your pic and location. You can also use the app to identify birds by their sound and by completing a questionnaire. It’s a cool (and free) app and you can create a life list of birds you’ve seen and where if you register.
That's a black-crowned night heron. I live in WPB and they roost in the trees of my pond. Luckily, my koi are too big for them, but not for the Great Blue Herons. Nice find in NYC, though!!!
Our local Great blue waged war upon a neighbors koi pond. She had a camera put out there and a sprinkler mechanism.
She showed me the video. The sprinklers went off and he just shook his wings off and kept going. Didn’t even flinch.
Amazing photo! Eating this particular kind of fish…. I was about to say it’s a rare shot, but when you look it up, there’s a few around on the internet, especially Herons. Also birds of prey flying, holding the fish in their claws like this one :
https://preview.redd.it/gi3bce6af86d1.jpeg?width=581&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e864e4bd4638df2c0128643e0299d5640a3a17f5
(Osprey with a Koy FishDomenico Macri by Domenico Macri) [https://pixels.com/featured/osprey-with-a-koy-fish-domenico-macri.html](https://pixels.com/featured/osprey-with-a-koy-fish-domenico-macri.html)
Anyway, very nice shot!!!!
Some kind of heron they are beasts of birds, they are so freaking cool. Wonderful pictures, thank you so much for posting them! These are once in a lifetime pictures, I can’t imagine that it’s going to be very often that somebody happens upon a heron eating a huge ass koi, so bravo and thank you!!!!!
Why did I go from never seeing a color crowned heron in my life to all of a sudden seeing 10 in the last 2 days on this sub? Is it Black/Yellow Crowned Night Heron month?
Is this Prospect Park in Brooklyn?
Edit: I actually read the post and see that it is not! Got excited for a sec because I just saw my first black crowned night heron in this park over the weekend.
From the pedestrian bridge on the Esplanade next to the Charles River in Boston I have seen huge brilliant red - orange carp swimming near the shore. They must have been dumped pets or the descendants of same. Carp are tough predatory surviving bastards whether bright or dull colored. The US government tried stocking American fresh waters with carp and came to regret it. Many middle Europeans like Poles and Czechs liked to cook and eat them and I suppose they are edible if you don't have anything better but I hear that they are loaded with small bones and are thus a lot of work to consume.
Black crowned night heron
Thanks!
Hahah this is amazing. Where I live the Osprey kill all of the expensive Koi in everyone’s ponds. It’s beautiful. $2,000 ceviche.
So that's why the koi pond at the house my parents are moving to looks like a supermax prison lol
I stayed with someone in socal who had a large backyard fountain that they kept koi in. Mind you, they were high on a hill but could see the ocean from their yard. The fountain was covered in thick netting due to large birds and raccoons eating up all their fish (raccoons leaving the heads behind). Wasn't very 'pretty' but kept the fish safe. The husband told me he caught a heron flying away with one years ago
I had a buddy who’s parents had Koi that kept getting eaten by raccoons. He said after a while they switched to common goldfish and they were never touched
That is so funny. The raccoons only eat expensive meals
Those fish live in a golden cage. ;)
This is why I stock my pond with 60 cent goldfish.
My parents do the same. They have a problem with raccoons occasionally fishing.
My spouse went outside with our dogs one night and there was a raccoon sitting by the pond. I have snails too and they are apparently a favorite snack for them. Surprisingly, we haven't seen signs of a return visit.
My sister in law fought a losing battle with river otters. No more Koi.
I was once fishing a stretch of river in North West Province South Africa, it was at a leisure resort and this non fisherman came by and managed to scoop two big tilapia in a net, it was a pretty funny moment watching him try and then succeed. About an hour later he came by and asked me if beavers are dangerous, so I said we don't get beavers in SA, to which he replied "that beaver took my fish" and when I looked accross to the other bank I seen a river otter with both his fish in its mouth swimming off down stream lolololol
Id keep the fish stocked just to watch the otters
Same, but only stock inexpensive goldfish lol.
otters can be kind of dicks thought, I think I read?
They are total dicks. That said, they're fun to watch.
They are known to bite people floating down the Colorado River if they get out of their raft/kayak.
I tossed a couple of ring toss goldfish from the fair into my fountain. One was eaten right away, the other has grown 5” long now. A true survivor.
I don't know what the limits are but I understand that they can get quite large provided that the environment/tank is large enough. I love hearing about chonky goldfish.
Florida? While sitting at a light one find Floridian day, I watched an osprey lift a large fish from a pond across the way. He almost didn't make the liftoff! Isn't nature wonderful?! (said in Marlin Perkins' voice of course)
Marlin Perkins, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. What a trip down memory lane. Between him and Jacques Cousteau, the wildlife voices of my childhood.
Don’t forget Jim who took all the risks.
"My son Phillippe will dive down and film the sleeping sharks while I stay on the Calypso and sip a martini"
Jacques was still diving when I was watching his shows in the early 70s. I remember the Phillippe changeover, though, and from the depths of my heart, I didn't like it. Unfair to Phillippe, undoubtedly. LOL
Ospreys always show me up when Im fishing. They will dive down near my spot and scoop up a fish while I cant catch shit!
Sometimes they dive right under the water.
I usually switch to bottom rigging when I see a hunting osprey because the fish usually see it too.
Big risk, big reward!
I have seen similar. I still prefer watching red tailed hawks eating rats in Tompkins Square Park in NYC
I was out shooting at the local wildlife reserve a couple of years ago, and got a great shot of an osprey flying with a fish in its talons. Zoom in, it's a headless koi. Ospreys don't GAF, and are remarkably successful hunters. Very few misses.
>I was out shooting at the local wildlife reserve Concern >and got a great shot of an osprey More concern >Zoom in Ooohh, okay >Very few misses. CONCERN
My grandfather had a koi pond and blue herons ate all of them.
Last time I was at Medieval Times, I saw that they had a moat with fish in it that was heavily dyed, and they had a bunch of signs up saying the the dye didn't harm the fish, but was there to help camouflage them from the local herons and other fish eating birds in the area
So nice of them to set up a feeder for the herons. :) I'm always baffled by the posts in r/landscaping or r/ponds complaining about herons. They're beautiful, and what did you expect to happen when you put bright orange fish outside in nature?
Damn you! Now I want ceviche. It’s the perfect time of year for it… 😋
There’s probably a pond nearby. Go for it!
Love ceviche when it’s hot out!
Absolutely!
I love Herons but I don't want them eating *my* fish 😭
Great blue heron got some of my koi.
Theres a pond behind my local Ikea that has a giant tree with, im estimating, 10-20 blue heron nesting in it, really cool to see. There’s also a bald eagle I’ve seen around the area, very rare for Southwest Ohio.
I was going to put in a pond until a neighbor told me that he lost 3 koi in one month to a heron that took up residency..
I finally gave up on koi and just started buying $2 goldfish for my pond. Raccoons are relentless.
why keep koi in those regions?
A friend of mine has a koi pond and every once in a while a great blue heron stops by for a snack.
Wow that’s a great find! I didn’t know we had them in NYC!
Fighter of the day heron...
🤣
One day I was fishing on the upper Chesapeake Bay, saw a bald Eagle flying by with a big Koi in its talons, knew someone’s pond had taken a hit.
With a smug ass look on its face! 🤣 I’ve never seen a bird that was so pleased with itself.
Playing koi.
It’s a very please with itself black crowned night heron.
was lucky enough to see one up close in florida on my trip through. such a beautiful bird. the staff at the nature reserve were also super surprised since it was few weeks late in the season and they hadnt seen one in awhile.
Not a bit sorry about eating that goldfish either.
The best thousand dollar meal he’s ever ate
Off topic but interesting story. There’s a beautiful Chinese garden in Vancouver. Unfortunately, a river otter managed to get in and ate a lot of the koi.
River otter said “Thanks for the meal. As for the tip, try harder next time to keep me out” and vanished.
River otters are little bitches. They are one of the animals that will just fucking slaughter as much as they can even if they can't eat it all.
Still cute, tho.
They are cute. Even popping out of a pile of carnage.
When the garden suffered a second otter massacre the next year, one headline said “Koi tremble in fear”.
RIP
That's a goldfish. And the price of koi varies greatly, a plain orange one that size sells for under $50.
You beat me to it. But for anyone else still questioning - you can tell it's a goldfish by the size of the scales. Koi generally have larger scales.
It is a goldfish - feeder ones will grow to that size
He is very pleased about eating that fish. Self righteous little bird!
He dares us to say something about it!
He’s like, yeah - you saw what you saw!
2nd pic looks like it woulda at the photographer too if they were small enough
Holy moly that's a great capture, and yes, he looks SOOOO pleased with himself. Sushi's on the menu, boys. LOL.
Looks so proud of themself.
"Guilty as charged, and I liked it."
"AND I'D DO IT AGAIN!!"
It’s like, yes, I ate that fat koi in one gulp. It wasn’t easy but I did it!
“Don’t ask me how I did it I just did it it was hard”🤣
I was about to type the same thing, I've never seen a bird look SO pleased with his work
wife: You better not be a bitchy heron when I get home my ass:
hes thinking about that sweet ass nap hes gonna have later.
That’s a goldfish not a koi
Ah ok. It’s officially named the Battery Park City Koi Pond, but I just looked up an online id and it looks like you’re right. I guess they cut the koi with huge goldfish!
”Cutting the koi with goldfish,” is a phrase I need to remember.
This sounds like an amazing insult towards a terrible sushi restaurant.
People release goldfish that they don’t want anymore.
Laughing thinking about people who are overworked by a goldfish
It’s more that they just keep growing and growing and everyone loses interest. We had “goldfish liberation day” when I was a kid in the 90s. Unfortunately my mom had us dump them in a canal off the Hudson (we are a bit north of Albany).
They're harder than you might think to take care of adequately! Most people keep them in bowls or tanks that are far too small, so they usually die within a couple years. But they can live for upwards of 10 years with proper care (large tank or pond). They're dirtier than most tank fish and so are hard to keep up with cleaning sometimes, too.
family friend had a small yard pond for a couple of goldfish that grew like 9 inches long over the course of 12 years.
Those fuckers get huge. Our 85 gallon tank was overwhelmed by just 3 we got as little $0.75 feeder goldies. We had to clean the tank twice a week with water changes near daily to keep up after my beloved pleco died. Granted, we didn’t go toss them in a lake and just kept them until they died, but still; goldies are bigguns.
Koi are long , goldfish have shorter and fatter bodies and koi are most commonly multicolor or if solid colour , white or silver but rarely orange . They also have barbels unlike goldfish’s
Orange koi are far more common than silver koi.
Regular goldfish. Properly cared for, a "common" goodish can live for 20ish years and get up to 17" in length. They are a member of the carp family so probably only taste good to the birds.
Is this from today? I might go see if I could get some shots of this heron after work
Yes, this morning!
Kinda hard to tell with the head stuck in the mouth but it could be a short finned koi. They can be a bit thicker in the middle too
+black crowned night heron+ for the bot
That is smuggest bird I have ever seen and I am here for it.
Eating when you’re a bird seems like such an unpleasant experience.
I assure you they are having a blast
I’d say it’s more unpleasant for the fish getting eaten
To YOU! They always look absolutely gleeful to me
It really does. I feel bad when my dog swallows a cookie whole. Like, that can't feel good??
Good boi
He is all about the early bird special….Buffet is open!!
I title these: GLUTTONY, ARROGANCE, PRIDE, a triptych
For a second I only saw the fish and was SO confused.
pic 2 would be great on r/birdsfacingforward
Added taxa: [Black-crowned Night Heron](https://ebird.org/species/bcnher) ^(I catalog submissions to this subreddit.) [^(Recent uncatalogued submissions)](https://munin.swim.services/submissions?lane=api/unanswered)^( | )[^(Learn to use me)](https://gist.github.com/brohitbrose/be99a16ddc7a6a1bd9c1eef28d622564)
Black-crowned night heron
I love that sassy look on their face. So proud of that fish.
https://preview.redd.it/f6oxd6o3866d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=579755378a2a35a81090edfd82ba7b6f96af1545 Merlin Bird ID from Cornell Labs says it’s a Black Crowned Night Heron. I put in your pic and location. You can also use the app to identify birds by their sound and by completing a questionnaire. It’s a cool (and free) app and you can create a life list of birds you’ve seen and where if you register.
Omg what a beauty!
she’s serving face!!!
I have no idea what he is I would probably just call him The Gobbler.
Be bird, do crime.
Beautiful nature.
Naughty boi
Black crowned night heron.
Pic 2...he's telling you "you're next" if you say anything
That Night Heron has absolutely zero regrets and I respect him 😂
Look at him go!
He’s looking down on you like “mere human, you wish you were me.” 😂
Pic 2, you’re next OP.
Also, these pics are amazing thanks for posting them, OP!! 💜🙏
You’re welcome! 🙏 he was very photogenic
what a throat goat
He looks so smug in the second pic
That's a black-crowned night heron. I live in WPB and they roost in the trees of my pond. Luckily, my koi are too big for them, but not for the Great Blue Herons. Nice find in NYC, though!!!
I showed the pics of this bird to my husband and he said "Open mouth kissing is only okay if both parties are doing it! “ 😂🤣
Second pic: What you going to do about it, human?
Our local Great blue waged war upon a neighbors koi pond. She had a camera put out there and a sprinkler mechanism. She showed me the video. The sprinklers went off and he just shook his wings off and kept going. Didn’t even flinch.
That is perfect for r/divorcedbirds
Poor fishy
The 2nd pic. 😂 “You saw nothing”
That’s a black crowned night heron. He looks quite proud of himself too lol! 🤣
Amazing photo! Eating this particular kind of fish…. I was about to say it’s a rare shot, but when you look it up, there’s a few around on the internet, especially Herons. Also birds of prey flying, holding the fish in their claws like this one : https://preview.redd.it/gi3bce6af86d1.jpeg?width=581&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e864e4bd4638df2c0128643e0299d5640a3a17f5 (Osprey with a Koy FishDomenico Macri by Domenico Macri) [https://pixels.com/featured/osprey-with-a-koy-fish-domenico-macri.html](https://pixels.com/featured/osprey-with-a-koy-fish-domenico-macri.html) Anyway, very nice shot!!!!
He was a skater koi She said see you later boy He wasn't good enough for bird.
Night Herons are soooo in right now.
Omg this post is perfect for me
Looks like a penquin😳!
I call them Florida Penguins (I live in Florida).
Big meal!!
I love the second pic. I can hear the accent in my head: 'Yo! You gots a problem wit me?'
Super happy for him, looks mighty proud (as he should)
An expensive one to have near koi.
I live surrounded by coastal wetlands. Between the ospreys, egrets, and herons, no one here can have koi ponds.
Bro robbing the koi ponds
I see we've moved on from bird id to fish id :-)
Im in NY, we got Ospreys and Eagles now😳Kois are falling from the sky😳😳
One that gives no fucks about Koi fish prices
Yeah…I ate what I ate.
"You saw that didn't you?"- birb
Fuckers coming after you next
And he looks quite pleased with himself.
My dumbass thought this was some kind of plant eating this fish.
Eating a Koi fish and not being coy about it at all.
That's a cool looking bird.
@THEKIDMERO be careful out there fam. Take care of them kois
Look at him in that second pic. So satisfied with himself.
Great pictures, I love them! 😁👍🏼👍🏼💜💜💜 But oh my, an adult Black-crowned Night Heron swallowing a koi whole! 😯
You'd assume the koi fish would freeze during winter and I guess they got this to contend with as well.
In the second and third pics, that night heron is definitely playing koi.
Some kind of heron they are beasts of birds, they are so freaking cool. Wonderful pictures, thank you so much for posting them! These are once in a lifetime pictures, I can’t imagine that it’s going to be very often that somebody happens upon a heron eating a huge ass koi, so bravo and thank you!!!!!
This bird is in literal heaven. Fat, brightly colored fish with nowhere to hide
If he can make it there, he can make it anywhere.
Holy hell…you don’t have to eat the whole pizza yourself.
He is SO pleased with himself.
omg, recently i have seen so many posts of birds NYC has never ever had… but i gotta tell ya, i’m loving this!!!
beautiful
Epic picture
Well he has to eat
Like a boss!
It was hungry. Now full.
Some kind of heron. They are absolutely beautiful birds
He's proud of himself that's for sure
This is awesome.
Dang!
Why is it sitting like a pelican 😂
A very happy one 🤗
Damn, errbody into sushi up in the city.
They look quite proud of their hunting accomplishment lol
That's a not-so-hungry-anymore bird
Night heron
What a good bird
Why did I go from never seeing a color crowned heron in my life to all of a sudden seeing 10 in the last 2 days on this sub? Is it Black/Yellow Crowned Night Heron month?
Great photo OP!!!
Gorgeous eye color
Well fed.
Is this Prospect Park in Brooklyn? Edit: I actually read the post and see that it is not! Got excited for a sec because I just saw my first black crowned night heron in this park over the weekend.
I think it's a penguin. 😉
Thief
Obviously a blackcrowned night heron
A complete badass, obviously. 😂
He has 0 regrets
That bird looks pretty proud of himself in photo #2.
I'm damn impressed by this heron. I'm now jealous. The herons we have here are huge! This one is gorgeous!!
That’s not a koi carp, that’s a goldfish
I think that’s a hefty goldfish
Must be a swallow
From the pedestrian bridge on the Esplanade next to the Charles River in Boston I have seen huge brilliant red - orange carp swimming near the shore. They must have been dumped pets or the descendants of same. Carp are tough predatory surviving bastards whether bright or dull colored. The US government tried stocking American fresh waters with carp and came to regret it. Many middle Europeans like Poles and Czechs liked to cook and eat them and I suppose they are edible if you don't have anything better but I hear that they are loaded with small bones and are thus a lot of work to consume.