The Story
The shot
I photographed these Western Cattle-Egret (Ardea ibis) nestlings in their stick nest at Hato Barley, Colombia. Chicks hatch in white down, with pale eyes and a dark bill that turns yellow as they grow. Cattle-egrets nest in noisy colonies, often alongside other herons, and feed mostly on insects stirred up by grazing cattle. Originally from Africa and southern Eurasia, the species reached South America on its own in the late 1800s and has since spread across the Americas. IUCN lists it as Least Concern. Since 1995 royalties from Tauramena’s oil fields have funded much of its development. Tauramena lies in southwestern Casanare.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/80 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Western Cattle-Egret (Ardea ibis) belongs to the family Ardeidae (Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025), with the population trend listed as stable. IUCN does not yet assess the Western Cattle-Egret separately; this is the assessment of Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis), which IUCN treats as including it. Source: IUCN Red List
