Diet
In Africa, the cattle egret eats insects that are stirred up by wild animals. They have adapted to following animals like cows in North America and eating insects like grasshoppers, crickets, spiders, and flies that are disturbed by the livestock.
Life Cycle
Males claim territory before mating begins. They will go through a variety of display behaviors to attract females. Females will gather in their territory and sometimes jump on the backs of the males. Eventually, the male will evict all but one female. Both the male and the female work on building a nest. The male brings the materials, sometimes stealing sticks from the nests of other egrets. The female constructs the nest. The nest is made of sticks and is built in a bush or a tree. The female lays three to five eggs and both parents incubate the eggs. The chicks hatch in between three and four weeks and fledge when they are a month old. Both parents care for the chicks. Cattle egrets nest in colonies with other species of egrets.
Behavior
Cattle egrets are very social. They gather in large colonies of cattle egrets and other bird species. In addition to following livestock, they also follow farm equipment like tractors to catch insects that are disturbed.
Image Credits: Clipart.com unless otherwise noted
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