Cattle Egret

Status Rare visitant. It was first recorded in Nova Scotia on 23 November 1957 at East Sable River, Shelburne County, by Mrs. Frank Craig, who reported it to Harrison F. Lewis. On 10 December 1957, Benjamin Smith found one dead on Cape Sable and submitted the specimen to the Nova Scotia Museum. The species has become almost annual among the "southern" herons.

There are reports of 8 individuals appearing in April, 41 in May, 9 in June, 18 in July, 1 in August, 3 in September, 17 in October and 2 in December, sometimes in small groups. A remarkable flight of about 25, along with a like number of Great Blue Herons, descended on the oceanographic research vessel CSS Dawson about 600 km east of Halifax on 30 March 1984. The latest seen was at Centreville, Shelburne County, on 14 December 1967.

Description Length: 48-58 cm. Adults in breeding season: White with orange-buff plumes on crown, foreneck, and back. The stout, yellow bill becomes reddened. Non-breeding adults and immatures: Dark legs and yellow bills, and stouter heads and shorter necks than other small white herons.

Range Now nesting from northern California, southern Saskatchewan, southern Ontario, and Maine, south to South America.

Remarks Somewhat smaller than our Little Blue Heron. In spring and summer its plumage is white with buff on crown, nape, back, and breast. These buff areas are lacking in autumn when the bird is all white. During all seasons the bill varies from yellow to orange. Legs are black in juveniles, changing to bright yellow in adults. It customarily associates with cattle, hence its name. Why it does so is not definitely known, but an acceptable theory is that the browsing animals disturb insects on the ground, making them readily available to the hungry birds.

Abundant in Africa and elsewhere in the Old World, it is not known how the species became established in this hemisphere. lt is generally believed that it crossed over from Africa by natural means, as evidenced by the fact that one banded in Spain as a nestling was recovered one year later in Trinidad. The species was first noted in Suriname, South America, between 1877 and 1882. From there it gradually spread northward and by 1952 had reached Newfoundland, even before it was recorded in Nova Scotia. Its spread seems to have become checked somewhat in recent years.