CATTLE EGRET - ANFIT BAKAR

Whenever a field is being watered here birds flock down in masses to take pleasure in it!

Yesterday on our way we were lucky to watch cattle egrets (Kuhreiher) enjoying the mist over a chickpea field, arising from the water, to cool themselves. We could sneak up quite near to them and they did not bother.

The cattle egret - bubulcus ibis - אנפית בקר - is from the species of the herons. It is dressed in brilliant white feathers and has a rather stout and plump appearance, there is nothing elegant about this bird. It has a thick neck, and sitting down and resting it seems to have no neck at all. The beak is yellow, the legs short. In the breeding season the beak and legs become bright red, and the plumage will be more feathery. Their name, cattle egret,  derives from their distinct behavior of following cattle and picking ticks and other insects off their bodies, and from the ground after the cattle have loosened it with their hooves while grazing. 

This bird is quite a globe trotter, it appears in many hot and warm places of this world, tropic and subtropic. Here in Israel it is very common. It likes to breed with other species of herons, preferably near water.

Towards evening, driving home, we stopped at one of their breeding places further south, at the estuary of the Dalia river into the sea, near the Carmel beach. There is an eucalyptus grove at the edge of the water, maybe twenty or so trees. We saw hundreds of nests in them, and the egrets and other herons busily taking off and landing, coming and going. We think those black looking ones are Glossy Ibis (?מגלן מצוי), beautiful dark grey-brown-blue birds with long skinny legs, and a long down-curved beak. Their presence is more fine and graceful, a bit superior to the egrets. They are home in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.

I loved seeing those birds so close, I stood very still for a long time near the trees their leaves wafting in the breeze, telling our dog Dafi to sit quiet and not to move, and enjoying the beautiful sight of the birds, with the sun setting over the ocean behind us.

Photographs by Uri Eshkar.