CATTLE EGRET

CHARACTERISTICS: The plumage is white during the non-breeding season. As the breeding season nears it changes colour to light chestnut on the head and chest. In length it reaches 46 to 53 cm. The males are somewhat larger, weighing some 390 grams, while the females weigh around 340 grams.
DIET: Normally invertebrates although it can hunt small snakes and frogs.
REPRODUCTION: It nests in colonies which in some cases can have as many as thousands of breeding pairs. They prefer to nest in nearby trees or close to rivers and lakes. In many cases they build their nests in branches that extend out over the water. The clutch consists of one to nine light or pale green-blue eggs. Incubation takes 21 to 25 days. The squabs leave the nest after 45 days.
CURIOSITIES: After months of breeding they leave, flying long distances. They follow no pattern nor, it would appear, do they seek any specific destination, they fly in all directions, even over the seas. This behaviour eventually enabled them to reach the Americas. They managed to cross the Atlantic Ocean at the end of the XIX century.