Yesterday, as a clan of cows wandered our neighborhood, eating the vegetation, a flock of cranes joined them, following in their way and flying around.
I didn’t know, until today, that egrets and cranes were/were sometimes the same things. I always wondered what an egret (usually mentioned in a book set in the UK :)) was, although I never was quite energetic enough to look it up. 😉
This bird is a Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis), so named because it follows cattle around. By following cattle around, it feeds up to 3.6 times as much as if it fed by itself. Interesting little tidbit. And it explains why I so frequently see these birds when cows are around. 🙂
The Cattle Egret is known by many different names, including Gava-koka in Sinhala.
The Cattle Egret is white during non-mating season, but colouring will turn to golden brown during mating season.