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Project Noah Nature School
Bubulcus ibis
Normally a white bird with a limited amount of buff on head, breast and mantle when breeding. This bird was observed in mid winter however so it should be in a non breeding condition and more white. Immature birds are pure white with completely dark legs. This bird was in the company of 4 other cattle egrets of normal colouration, it was the same size and displaying typical Cattle Egret behaviour around a small group of grazing cattle.
Usually roosts near water but forages up to 20km from roost during the day time. Food consists mainly of insects in grassland, tends to stay in small loose flocks of 5 - 20 birds and frequently associates with large herbivorous animals taking advantage of their disturbance of the grass dwelling insects. They also pick ticks from the legs of the grazing animals
This individual was foraging along with a small group of normal colour egrets. Its similar size and behaviour identified it as a Cattle Egret. I'm not sure about the leg colour, it appears a bit dark with yellow thighs in photo 4 which is diagnostic of the Yellow billed Egret (Egretta intermedia) but then it should have been noticeably bigger, but the photos are not that clear. I saw the bird twice, the second time (without a camera) was about 3 weeks after the first siting and within half a km
Spotted on Jun 13, 2011
Submitted on Feb 7, 2012
4 Comments
It is most definitely PINK
Am I seeing things or is that pink?
Such an interesting colour morph! A neat spotting! Glad to see you added it to the colour morphs mission :D
Very cool spot!