Cattle egret

Bubulcus ibis

A small white heron often seen around livestock, catching insects flushed by hooves and showing buff plumes in breeding season.

Key facts

Cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) is a carnivore animal classified as Bird · Pelecaniformes · Ardeidae.
Primary habitats are grassland · savanna · urban, with a range across Afrotropical · Palearctic · Indomalayan · Nearctic · Neotropical · Australasian.
Activity is diurnal, sociality is loose group, and conservation status is LC (Least Concern).
A small white heron often seen around livestock, catching insects flushed by hooves and showing buff plumes in breeding season.
Uses grassland, farmland, pastures, damp open ground, and towns, often gathering around livestock or farm machinery.

Habitat range map

Native rangeOccasional / Transient

Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)

Uses grassland, farmland, pastures, damp open ground, and towns, often gathering around livestock or farm machinery.

The body is white with a yellow bill. Breeding birds show buff-orange plumes on the head, breast, and back.

It walks near cattle or horses and snaps up insects disturbed by movement. Flocks gather at roosts and colonies.

Grasshoppers, beetles, flies, and other insects dominate the diet, with frogs, small reptiles, and small fish also eaten.

Colonies nest in trees near water, often mixed with other herons and egrets.

Originally African, it spread widely through natural dispersal and a strong ability to use human-modified habitats.