Great blue heron nicknamed ‘Hitler’ spotted trying to steal fish from West Kelowna pond

After spotting a great blue heron in her backyard attempting to steal fish, a West Kelowna resident was quick to report a sighting of "Hitler" online.

Carol Ryan, a West Kelowna resident, said she originally spotted a blue heron in her fish pond when she lived in Kelowna and received some social media attention when she posted a photo on Facebook back in 2015.

“I’m not sure who named him originally, but this was people all over the region and surrounding area (were reporting about Hitler the heron),” she said. “I have seen him year after year since. He flies back and he kind of flies solo.”

Since moving to West Kelowna, she said he knows all the ponds in the whole area.

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“I’ve had reports when people first posted a picture of him, people in Lake Country and the Rutland area, this little fella travels around. He knows all the routes and all the areas. It’s easy food,” she said.

One year she lost about 14 goldfish to sate Hitler’s appetite. She has a duck decoy in her backyard, which seemed to keep him out of the pond, but this morning she saw a blue heron coming in for a landing at her pond before she shooed it away.

But she acknowledged it could be more than one heron residents raiding backyard ponds.

“Basically anyone who has a pond knows about him.”

In Glenrosa, Ryan said her most recent sighting of him has sparked a discussion and more sightings of him online.

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“He’s kind of cute, but at the same time you don’t want him eating your fish,” she said.

Avid birdwatcher and owner of Avocet Tours Chris Charlesworth thinks it could be many herons, as they have nests down in Kelowna’s Mission area.

“They do that quite often. I don’t know how people know it’s the same one, it might be all sorts of them doing similar things,” he said. “Right now they’re feeding their chicks I would think, but right now they’re trying to find food wherever they can.”

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