Eastern Cattle Egret

Yes, you’re seeing right – there are birds who hang around closely with cows on QMAG’s Yaamba mine site. And no it’s not a Far Side comic panel.

Eastern cattle egrets (Ardea ibis) are a farmer’s best friend – and a cow’s - it is common to see the egrets standing next to or on the backs of cattle eating ticks and flies. The egrets love it too, because as these large animals move through the grass they disturb other prey such as frogs, grasshoppers, and other insects and animals. It’s easy to tell when eastern cattle egrets are breeding because the neck breast and mantle plumage goes a distinct buff-orange. Small for an egret at a moderate 50cm tall, these tick and fly eating birds are arguably amongst the most successful of global species, spreading as we speak to much of the world, but arriving in Australia from Asia only relatively recently in 1948.

Eastern cattle egrets even fly to and from New Zealand from Australia each year to overwinter in farmlands. Not bad for a humble paddock bird!