Algeria, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia (B), Aruba, Australia (B), Azerbaijan (B), Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada (B), Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China (mainland), Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Costa Rica, Côte dIvoire, Cuba, Cyprus (P), Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), France (B) (NB) (P), French Guiana, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Gibraltar (NB), Greece (B) (P), Grenada (B), Guadeloupe, Guam (NB), Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong (China) (B), India, Indonesia, Iran [Islamic Republic of] (B) (P), Iraq (B) (NB), Israel (B) (NB), Italy (B) (NB), Japan, Jordan (B) (NB) (P), Kazakhstan (B), Kenya, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives (B), Mali (B), Marshall Islands (NB), Martinique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Micronesia [Federated States of] (NB), Montenegro (B), Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands (B), Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea (B), Northern Mariana Islands (NB), Oman, Pakistan, Palau (NB), Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Portugal (B) (NB), Puerto Rico (B), Réunion, Romania (B), Russia (European) (B), Rwanda, Sâo Tomé e Principe, Saudi Arabia (B) (NB), Senegal, Serbia (B), Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, South Korea, Spain (B) (NB) (P), Sri Lanka, St Helena, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Syrian Arab Republic, Taiwan (China), Tanzania [United Republic of] (B), Thailand, Timor-Leste (B) (NB), Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey (B) (NB), Turkmenistan (B), Turks and Caicos Islands, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United States Minor Outlying Islands (NB), Uruguay (B), USA (B), Venezuela, Vietnam, Virgin Islands (British) (B) (NB), Virgin Islands (U.S.) (B) (NB), Western Sahara, Yemen (B) (NB) (P), Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Vagrant to Albania, Antarctica, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria (E) (B), Christmas Island, Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska), Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg (NB), Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of], Malta, New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, Norway, Poland, Qatar, Slovenia, St Pierre and Miquelon (P), Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan.
Introduced to British Indian Ocean Territory (B), Jamaica (B).
Western Cattle Egret (Bubulcus) [XC132488]
by Paul Marvin from Palude di Pellegrina, Verona, Veneto, Italy (call, from a colony with night heron and cattle egret)
Western Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) [XC300013]
by Francesco Sottile from Bilen Lodge area, Ethiopia (call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
November - January in the south, March - May in the north.
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Nest
A platform composed of sticks and twigs, placed in a tree. Usually in colonies with other herons and egrets.
Eggs (Guide)
3 - 6; white-tinged green-blue; oval; about 45 x 33 mm. Incubation: about 22 - 26 days; by both sexes.
Young
Semi-altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 25 days.
Subspecies
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
ibis (Linnaeus, 1758) - Africa and Madagascar, south-western Europe to Caspian Sea, northern, central and southern America, from Canada to Guianas and northern Chile, north-eastern Argentina and scattered parts of Brazil.
coromandus (Boddaert, 1783) - Asia, east from Baluchistan to Australia and New Zealand. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Eastern Cattle Egret (Bubulcus coromandus).
seychellarum (Salomonsen, 1934) - Seychelles. Validity of this subspecies is questioned.
Similar Species
Intermediate Egret (Ardea intermedia) which is larger has a longer, slimmer neck, Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) which is similar in size but has a slender, black bill and is longer necked, white morph of Eastern Reef Egret (Egretta sacra) which is larger, does not have a buff crown, has a much heavier, horn-colored bill, and is usually solitary.
Compare Images
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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