Bubulcus ibis - Cattle Egret
Feather characters. Barbule length varies from medium until long (1.2-1.8 mm). Pigment is absent. Borders between cells are visible, but hardly swollen and thus too small to qualify as nodes. These nodal structures (10-14 per mm) have about the same size along the entire length of the barbules, only slightly decreasing towards the tip. Villi are absent and internodes are straight. Prongs are absent.
Field characters. Size 48-53 cm. Weight 338 g (Dunning, 1993). Appears white at distance. Somewhat smaller, more compact, and with shorter neck than Little Egret; distinctive heavy jowl. In breeding season, long tufts of pink-buff to orange-buff feathers on crown, throat and mantle conspicuous at close range. Non-breeding plumage white. Bill yellow with red base in breeding season, legs reddish; in winter, legs and bill yellowish. Juvenile white, without tufts of elongated feathers, and with yellow bill and yellow-green legs.
Voice. During the breeding season various croaking calls.
Distribution. Breeds locally in very small to fairly large colonies. Map: see MapIt.
Habitat. Breeds in or below tops of medium-sized deciduous trees or in thickets in lowland areas. Feeds on pastures, semi-arid steppes, arable fields, banks of rivers, ponds, lakes, etc., usually close to herds of cattle or other livestock; least restricted to aquatic habitats of European herons.
Food. Prey consists mainly of insects, captured on wet or dry land or in shallow water, usually where cattle or other large mammals are present.