CLIPBOARD : BREEDING BIRDS : CATTLE EGRET (Bubulcus ibis)

Description: This particular egret is a small, stocky wading bird. It has a long neck, legs and bill for stalking food in shallow water. The breeding adult has a buff-colored wash on crown, breast and back with reddish-orange bill and dark red legs. Nonbreeding adult has white plumage with yellow bill and greenish legs. Its black bill turns yellow in late summer. Length: 20 inches.

Habitat: Marshes, plowed fields, river beds, ravines and pastures.

Diet: Insects, frogs and snails.

Displays: Greeting display includes flattened crest feathers and fluffed plumage. In bonding display, the pair stretch necks while swaying side-to-side and engage in mutual back preening and contact bill clattering.

Nest: Female builds nest of twigs, sticks and reeds that male has collected. Usually built in small shrub. Nest-building continues throughout incubation period.

Eggs: Bluish-white to blue green. Length: 1.9 inches.

Breeding bird atlas: To report bird breeding activity in your neighborhood, or to get information on the breeding bird atlas, call Sea and Sage Audubon Society members Sylvia Gallagher, (714) 962-8990, or Nancy Kenyon, (714) 786-3160.

Notes: Cattle egrets are known commensal feeders. They are especially noted for following cattle, which serve as “beaters,” stirring up insects. Commensal feeding also observed as cattle egrets pounce on prey stirred up by other wading birds in shallow water.

Note: Map is divided into 5-kilometer squares so that Audubon Society volunteers can more easily survey areas on a regular basis.

Sources: Sea and Sage Audubon Society; “The Birder’s Handbook,” Ehrlich, Dobkin and Wheye, Fireside Books (1988); “Field Guide to the Birds of North America,” National Geographic Society (1987); “Birds of Southern California: Status and Distribution,” Garrett and Dunn, Los Angeles Audubon Society (1981).