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CATTLE EGRET FACTS |
Description The Cattle Egret is a small white egret with a yellow bill and grey legs. In the breeding season it develops a tan head, neck and breast, and reddish orange bill tipped with yellow. Juvenile birds are white with grey bill.
Other Names Buff-backed Heron
Size 50cm
Habitat grasslands, woodlands and wetlands, and is not common in arid areas. It also uses pastures. Often seen with cattle and other farm animals.
Food grasshoppers, other invertebrates, frogs, lizards, small mammals
Breeding shallow platform nests are made in wetland areas in trees and bushes
Range much of eastern Australia from Tasmania to tropical Queensland. Also in northern parts of the northern Territory , and coastal Western Australia.
Credits: Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Classification
Class: | Aves | Order: | Ciconiiformes | Family: | Ardeidae | Genus: | Ardea | Species: | ibis | Common Name: | Cattle Egret |
Relatives in same Genus Great Egret (A. alba) Intermediate Egret (A. intermedia) Pacific Heron (A. pacifica) Pied Heron (A. picata) Great-billed Heron (A. sumatrana)
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