Cattle Egret

The Cattle Egret scientifically called Bubulcus ibis and commonly called as “Bagula” in Hindi is a large bird from Heron family. They have a short & thick neck in a hunched posture with a sturdy yellow bill. They have a pure white plumage during the non-breeding season while during the breeding season they develop buff-orange plumes on the breasts, back and crown with bright red bills, legs and irises for a short period just before pairing. They make their nests in tall and strong trees with other wading birds in colonies usually near water bodies and farms and forage and prey on insects on farms & marshy lands close to cattle and other herbivorous vertebrates which is why they are termed as Cattle Egrets.

Like An Angel In The Sky

These two images are among my most favourites and highly precious for me. The weather was stormy and I was on my terrace trying to capture the struggle of birds in the storm when I saw this one bravely making it’s way opposite to the direction of wind. As it can be clearly seen that the Egret is in it’s breeding season and you can also notice the clouds in the background.

Again on my way towards Dhamtari, a small district in Chhattisgarh, I stopped by this little farmland to take some shots of these Cattle Egrets that were preying in this rice-field. The thing that attracted me the most is the vibrant green sprouts of rice that grew on the water fed farmland.

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