Order: Ciconiformes

Family: Ardeidae

 

Size:  up to 46 - 56 cm

Weight: Male: 390 g; Female: 340 g

 

Key Features: It is stocky in build, has a slightly hunched posture and white-grey plumage. In the breeding season, the feathers on the head and back turn an orange-red and, remarkably, the irises and bill turn the same orange-red. The sexes differ in size and appearance, but only slightly; the male is marginally larger and has longer breeding plumes during the mating season.

 

Voice: generally a quiet bird; however, it can sometimes give a coarse, throaty call, especially during the mating season.

 

Breeding: Breeding generally takes place near water sources and in colonies, and starts with males competing with each other using animated sexual displays. If a male is successful in finding a mate, the pair will produce one brood for the season, laying between one and five eggs in a nest made from sticks that the male has collected and the female has arranged. The males will find a new mate each season.

 

Diet: consists mainly of a variety of insects, spiders, frogs and worms.

 

Habitat: found in open, grassy areas, such as pastures, meadows, marshes, flood plains and swamps. The species has a preference for freshwater and is rarely found near marine environments.

 

Habits: The adult cattle egret has few predators, but birds or mammals may raid its nests, and chicks may be lost to starvation, calcium deficiency or disturbance from other large birds. This species maintains a special relationship with cattle, which extends to other large grazing mammals. The cattle egret removes ticks and flies from cattle and consumes them. This benefits both species, but it has been implicated in the spread of tick-borne animal diseases.

 

Conservation Status: Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

 

 

 

 

 

References:

Cornell Lab of Ornithology: All About Birds (November, 2009) http://www.allaboutbirds.org

 

McKilligan, N. (2005) Herons, Egrets and Bitterns, Their Biology and Conservation in Australia. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.

 

Burger, J. and Gochfeld, M. (1993) Making foraging decisions: host selection by cattle egrets Bulbicus ibis.Ornis Scandinavica, 24(3): 229-236.

 

BirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet: Bubulcus ibis. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on July 04th, 2014.

 

Photo Courtesy

Su Neko, Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons Commons