We have had a pair of blue herons nest in our largest pecan tree for the last few years. This year, they told their friends. So far we have 12 herons in our pecan trees. They crap all over my neighbors car which I find hilarious.

At what point do I need to worry about the government making my back yard a protected blue heron preserve?

Well, now that you have posted about it on a public website, probably tomorrow.

We get some sort of short legged water bird. It has a similar look/ head, to a heron, but a much smaller bird. Orangish legs, if I recall correctly.

They like to walk through the trees. Huge craps on everything, kids trampoline, etc.. Every now and then I find small dead fish/ perch in the yard that I guess were vomited up for the young and missed their mouth.

You can harass them up to the point the first egg is laid. Move on it quickly.

You do NOT want them to get established. They can end up attracting cattle egrets.

Look up Carrolton egret on YouTube. I developed their response plan for 2012, and used since then with success. Reality is neither the state or feds are going to do much unless it is stupidly over the top, see Carrolton 2001...and why they were so cautious in 2011.

Look up night heron.

So how does one harass a heron enough to make it leave?

Water hose. And knock any nest building material out of the tree. Air horn.

Fyi.....I took a neighborhood from 1,000 nests to 8 in one year (so 4,500-6,000 birds come end of July). They had approximately 10 nests in '08 and '09, and about 150 in 2010. This is the trend with heronries. They are no big deal with assorted herons and night herons, but eventually, cattle egrets will join the party.

proc said:

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We have had a pair of blue herons nest in our largest pecan tree for the last few years. This year, they told their friends. So far we have 12 herons in our pecan trees. They crap all over my neighbors car which I find hilarious.

At what point do I need to worry about the government making my back yard a protected blue heron preserve?

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Cut down the tree

proc said:

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So how does one harass a heron enough to make it leave?

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You and some friends climb up in the trees near them and yell "Neef, Neef" over and over. Then you tell them you will stop yelling "Neef" if they bring you a nice shrubbery. When they leave to go look for the shrubbery, you destroy the nests.

ursusguy said:

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Fyi.....I took a neighborhood from 1,000 nests to 8 in one year (so 4,500-6,000 birds come end of July). They had approximately 10 nests in '08 and '09, and about 150 in 2010. This is the trend with heronries. They are no big deal with assorted herons and night herons, but eventually, cattle egrets will join the party.

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870?

toolshed said:

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We get some sort of short legged water bird. It has a similar look/ head, to a heron, but a much smaller bird. Orangish legs, if I recall correctly.

They like to walk through the trees. Huge craps on everything, kids trampoline, etc.. Every now and then I find small dead fish/ perch in the yard that I guess were vomited up for the young and missed their mouth.

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Do they look like this? Or a different color?

No, actually no birds were killed. This actually annoyed the crap out of another agency. During a public meeting, they flat out said that the residents could try my idea but if they didn't come in and kill some birds, my plan was worthless. Whelp, 7 years later still working like a champ, and several other cities around the country have followed the same plan. Ironically, that series of events set up my eventual leaving TPWD....in a good way.

Just saw two night herons in the pine in the front yard today. Sounds like I'll be breaking out the hose tomorrow...

It's to bad that they take over like that, they are cool birds.

As Urs said, destroy the nest before it's built, don't wait until it's fully built as that is deabatable now whether it's an MBTA violation.

Here's a fun twist, and why I ask about night herons (not an issue with this one). The way the rule is written, once the first egg off ANY species in the rookery is in the nest, the whole thing is protected. In North Texas, the night herons may be nesting by mid-February, but they are rarely in number to bother folks. BUT, they also take their good sweet time. So you may have active nesting for up to two months before the cattle egrets even show up.

Onlyfornow, they make some allowances for dealing with colonial nesting birds, but you are right the key is "active nesting"......good thing is USFWS le isn't going to move on the issue unless pushed by Albuquerque (granted, that office can be special).

Now for my rare political statement----BOTH Texas senators rode in and without researching the matter, both said they were going to aggressively work to "change the regulation". USFWS biologists themselves are frustrated that the cattle egret is even covered by the MBTA (long story short, they got here by means of natural range expansion......in my mind they should be an invasive species). Anyway, after learning the nuances of the MBTA, BOTH did an aboutface on the matter. The US Reps pursued it a little longer, but ultimately 3 Reps I have worked with also backed off pursuing modifying the MBTA.

Zinke's new letter piece about the MBTA is a saving grace though.

Doubt anyone is going to be prosecuted for protecting ones property from devaluation or destruction.

The Solicitor's M Opinion on MBTA just mentions incidental take of migratory birds. Destroying active nests would not be considered incidental, so don't assume it gives you coverage on nest destruction.

Just follow Ursus's advise, run them off before the nests are established.

You're 100% correct in what the letter states; but it's an attempt to get back to the Sikes Rule, which is about the feather trade - the original purpose of the MBTA. Not what it is today.

The point is don't indescirminately kill birds or destroy their active nests. And use discernment when you're about to destroy a partially built nest or an inactive one, once young have fledged. Note that this does NOT apply to eagles.

I am not even sure my water hose can reach that high, even with a sprayer.

About 12 years ago some herons setup shop above my parent's driveway, those things shat everywhere and was quite the stench. They nested too high for water hose, but within reach of a football.

Those darned things have been coming back every year since then, but they've lost just about all trees above the driveway since. Now the a**holes are above their neighbor's house.

I think mine are green herons, from what I recall of seeing them in the past. I haven't noticed them this year, yet.

We aren't really near any bodies of water, other than drainage creeks, so I was surprised to see them show up. But they've been around for about 10 years or more and keep coming back. I don't mind them, other than the 3" diameter poop splats on the trampoline and deck.

For those of you w nests out of reach, borrow a pressure sprayer. Install the high pressure nozzle/insert, you're good to go.

Plus, once the nest is down you can use the sprayer to clean off your house driveway trucks trampolines and everything else they have defiled.

ursusguy said:

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You can harass them up to the point the first egg is laid. Move on it quickly.

You do NOT want them to get established. They can end up attracting cattle egrets.

Look up Carrolton egret on YouTube. I developed their response plan for 2012, and used since then with success. Reality is neither the state or feds are going to do much unless it is stupidly over the top, see Carrolton 2001...and why they were so cautious in 2011.

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I grew up in Carrollton, and was still in high school back in 2001. Lived one street south of what became the George Bush Turnpike. That was a mess (literally). our neighborhood was overrun with egrets, coyotes, roadrunners, and all sorts of wildlife when they started clearing that space. The high school I attended also had an "active shooter" situation around that time.

One Christmas, a few years ago, I was back in town visiting my mom. On Christmas day, there was an egret in her front yard, acting real funny and holding his wing in a way that made me think it was damaged. I called the non-emergency number, cause animal control wasn't answering their phones on Christmas day (surprise). About 5 minutes after I mentioned the word "egret" to em, an animal control officer in plain clothes came hauling down my moms street.

That was when I realized that, in Carrollton anyway, off duty animal control will respond faster to a report of an egret, than the police department will to a report of a shooter.

That was part of the plan.

water turkey said:

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The Solicitor's M Opinion on MBTA just mentions incidental take of migratory birds. Destroying active nests would not be considered incidental, so don't assume it gives you coverage on nest destruction.

Just follow Ursus's advise, run them off before the nests are established.

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User name checks out.

We have them nest in a Cypress tree on the Medina River. They are inconsistent year to year. Sometimes they will grow to more than a dozen. The next year there will be none, or maybe one pair.

One year when there were over 20 in that tree I called the Audobon Society in San Antonio and left a message on their phone to come ovserve these birds. Nobody ever returned my call.