Cattle Egret

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A few weeks ago, a small flock of Cattle Egrets sporting their breeding colors were flying in to our community late afternoons to hunt everyone’s freshly manicured lawns for insects.

For over a week, I tried so many times to get out the door when I saw them come our way, but they were startled easily and would take flight before I could get lined up for a shot.

Finally, I got lucky with one worthy shot.  😏

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Cattle Egrets

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You can see the first one sees me, so, of course, they then took flight!  😅

Cool fact:  Cattle Egrets are native to Africa but somehow reached northeastern South America in 1877.  They continued to spread, arriving in the United States in 1941 and nesting there by 1953.  Since then, Cattle Egrets have become one of the most abundant of the North American herons, showing up as far north as Alaska and Newfoundland.

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