Back in the days before plastic herons were available I made one by gluing slabs of cork to a plywood silhouette and then carving and painting a Great Blue Heron. They do work quite well, we had that one set up along the muddy shore near our blind when a real heron flew and landed about twenty-five feet from the decoy. The heron squawked a couple of times then strode down the shore and jumped up and kicked the decoy to the ground. It stood there for a while staring at the defeated "bird" before walking back down the shore. You can also get a wide variety of species of decoys including egrets, gulls and coots. Wilson Cady
Columbia River Gorge, WA
---------- Original Message ----------
From: johntubbs at comcast.net
To: Lyn Topinka <pointers at pacifier.com>
Cc: Tweeters <Tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] ID of unusually white heron
Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2012 01:29:08 +0000 (UTC)
Hi folks,
I've been chuckling at this along with everyone else.
Here is a possible reason why there are realistic Great Blue Heron decoys available...
Some duck hunters use them as 'confidence decoys'. Herons are (usually) spooky enough around people that there is a theory that ducks are more comfortable landing in an area where they see a heron, because if there were people close by, the heron wouldn't be there. So...theoretically they give the ducks more confidence about landing - thus the name. I have no idea whether it works or not, but stumbled onto that factoid at some point in the past and it stuck with me.
John Tubbs
Snoqualmie, WA
johntubbs at comcast.net
From: "Lyn Topinka" <pointers at pacifier.com>
To: "Kelly McAllister" <mcallisters4 at comcast.net>, "Tweeters" <Tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2012 12:32:31 PM
Subject: RE: [Tweeters] ID of unusually white heron
LOL ... and with age ... ours was 2 years ago ... perhaps it's the same bird aged a bit ??? ...
all kidding aside, the decoy isn't bad and did confuse quite a few birders down here ... had everybody going for a while ... at one point there was a huge lineup of cars looking at it ... even experienced birders were scratching their heads ...
later,
Lyn
At 12:25 PM 12/30/2012, Kelly McAllister wrote:
I�d go with yellow on a mature plastic heron. They lighten with exposure to UV.
From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu [ mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Lyn Topinka
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2012 12:18 PM
To: Tweeters
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] ID of unusually white heron
ah, HE'S BACK !!!!!!!!! ... a "cousin" of your Heron was at the Ridgefield Refuge in 2010 found near the edge of one of the smaller lakes near a hunter's blind ... our "heron" had a black bill however and with a bit different facial markings ...
http://ridgefieldbirds.com/Images10Dec/RNWR_mystery_heron_12-31-10.jpg
hum, perhaps we have an adult and an immature representation ??? ... are their bills black when mature or yellow when mature ??? ...
happy birding,
Lyn
Vancouver, Washington
_______________________________________________
Tweeters mailing list
Tweeters at u.washington.edu
http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweetersLyn Topinka
http://EnglishRiverWebsite.com
http://ColumbiaRiverImages.com
http://RidgefieldBirds.com
_______________________________________________
Tweeters mailing list
Tweeters at u.washington.edu
http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters