Egrets spend so much time around farms that they could almost be considered domesticated. It is common to see them with – and on the backs of – cattle. Pull a plow through a field, or a brush-hog through a pasture, and Egrets will show up in droves to feast on whatever critters the farmer uncovers.
Here at the Boggy Thicket, Egrets even follow me when I mow the lawn on my riding mower. When I mowed yesterday, two showed up within the first five minutes and stayed with me almost an hour until I took a break.
The birds looked identical – they are Cattle Egrets, one of the four species common to the USA – snowy white with just a dash of peachy beige.
Although they looked the same, their feeding approach was totally different. One liked to hunt in the unmowed grass for bugs and frogs that were scurrying to escape the mower, while the other preferred the area I had just mowed and the easy pickings of critters killed or injured by the mower blades. Both of them seemed sure that I was mowing strictly for their benefit, and while they would occasionally run or fly to get out of my way, they never went more than about twenty-five feet.
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