Cattle Egrets

Description:

A waterbird, smallest of the egrets, distinguishable more easily during late spring & into summer with its usually snowy white plumage brightly added to with russet orange in breeding season, hanging in long plumes from the throat and back, with the face a bright orange to match. Beak is yellow not black as in other egret species it can be confused with, but the beak also changes to deep orange or red during breeding season. The bird is also a bit stockier in build. Usually seen near waterways, wetlands, farm paddocks, often trailing around livestock or farm machinery plowing paddocks as the birds find an easy feed of insects stirred into the air by movement, also feeds on small frogs and other insects and larvae. rarely heard to make a sound

Habitat:

Found throughout Australia especially near waterways and in farm paddocks. Nests near water in trees or tall shrubs in colonies away from predators.