If you're a birder, you'll know what a life list is. It's basically a list of all the bird species one has observed and positively ID'd in one's lifetime. This blog is a record of my "critter" life list (mostly of birds), including photos I've taken over the years, some of the actual lifer if I was lucky enough to get the shot. Don't expect National Geographic quality stuff here, just the work of an amateur photog who loves to trudge out into nature.

Friday, November 6, 2015

Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis)

2/3/02 Ag fields off of Sinclair Road at English Road, Salton Sea, Imperial County, CA
2/3/02 Sinclair Road at English Road, Salton Sea
8/31/02 Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, Palm Desert, Riverside County, CA

LIFE LIST NOTES:

COMMON NAME: Cattle Egret

SPECIES: Bubulcus ibis

FAMILY: Ardeidae (Herons & Egrets)

LIFE LIST DATE: 2/3/2002

LOCATION: Large group observed feeding in ag fields (mowed hay?), Sinclair Road at English Road, Salton Sea, Imperial County, CA

From Kaufman Focus Guide-Birds of North America & Stokes Field Guide to Birds-Western Region:

BEHAVIOR/HABITAT: Forsaking the watery haunts of most herons, Cattle Egrets stalk about in open fields, hunting grasshoppers and other large insects. Often they forage near farm animals that may flush insects from the grass. For nesting and roosting sites, however, they usually pick trees near water. Cattle Egrets spread from Africa to South America, then reached North America in the 1950s. 

IDENTIFYING MARKS: 19"; More compact and chunkier than other white herons. Yellow bill is noticeably short. Legs vary from yellow or pink in breeding season to dusky or black in winter. In breeding plumage, shows patches of buff feathers. 

VOICE: In colonies, a rick-rack call. When alarmed, gives a kok call.
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