Species: Bubulcus ibis
Cattle Egret
Species
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Aves
Order
Ciconiiformes
Family
Ardeidae
Genus
Bubulcus
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
Garza Ganadera, Garcita Bueyera - Garça-Vaqueira - héron garde-boeufs
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Wading Birds
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Ciconiiformes - Ardeidae - Bubulcus
Ecology and Life History
Migration
true - true - true - Northern populations in North America are migratory; move north February to April or later, migrate south September into November. Extensive post-breeding dispersal in all compass directions July to early September in north (Palmer 1962).
Non-migrant
true
Locally Migrant
true
Food Comments
Eats mainly insects and amphibians, also reptiles and small rodents; usually feeds on dry or moist ground near cattle or horses, away from water (Terres 1980), sometimes near farm machinery.
Reproduction Comments
Clutch size is 2-6 (commonly 3-4). Incubation, by both sexes, lasts 21-24 days. Young can fly short distances at 40 days, reasonably well at 50 days. May breed at 1 year. Usually nests in colonies.
Ecology Comments
Often flies in large flocks in morning and evening.
Length
51
Weight
338
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-11-20
Global Status Last Changed
1996-11-20
Other Status
LC - Least concern
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
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Global Range
H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - BREEDS: in Western Hemisphere locally from California, southern Idaho, Colorado, North Dakota, southern Saskatchewan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, southern Ontario, northern Ohio, and Maine south, primarily in coastal lowlands, through Middle America and West Indies to South America (northern Chile, northern Argentina, southeastern Brazil). Breeding range is expanding with deforestation in Central America. NORTHERN WINTER: throughout much of breeding range, north to the southern U.S. In the U.S., most abundant in winter in Florida, around the Salton Sea (California), on the coastal plains of southern Texas, and around the mouth of the Mississippi River in Louisiana (Root 1988). Introduced in Hawaii. Old World species that has spread from populations introduced in South America (NGS 1983); some have concluded that the species colonized South America on its own.
Global Range Code
H
Global Range Description
>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)