Today’s post includes some images of Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis) that were photographed during my recent Trumpeter Swan photo trip at Squaw Creek NWR in northwest Missouri. During the 3 days there, we saw a small group of 2-3 every day. Here are a couple of images I made early in the trip:
Cattle egrets are different than most egrets. Instead of wallowing in water for aquatic prey, cattle egrets stalk about open fields, searching grasshoppers and other large insects. They get their common name from the fact they often forage near farm animals, i.e. cattle, that may flush insects from the grass. We were quite surprised to find the cattle egrets at the refuge, at this time of year. Morning temperatures were between 15-20 degrees F, with the daytime highs only getting about 35F. But we saw at least 2 of them every day. In another post, I’ll post another surprising thing we saw with the cattle egrets during our trip to Squaw Creek.
