Cattle Egret, close portrait
Bubulcus ibis
Cattle Egret · Everglades National Park · 6 February 2026
A Cattle Egret close up in the Everglades in February. This is the egret of the cattle-field and the airport verge, the one that stands on the backs of cows, and it lives on dry ground across Florida and most of the warm world, feeding on the insects that grazing animals flush.
The pale yellow eye and orange-yellow bill here are typical rather than an especially advanced sign of breeding condition. On some individuals the bill and legs redden briefly at the height of the season, but the buff crown and back plumage is the more usual and more reliable marker.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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