SOLD Cattle Egret

CATTLE EGRET

Ardeala ibis 

aka Cow Bird or Cattle Gaulin in the Virgin Islands

This is a small white heron, about 23 inches high, with short neck and yellow or pinkish legs. The bill varies from yellow to orange as it ages. It develops pink tufts on neck and back when in breeding plumage. It is usually seen around cattle, keeping them free of ticks, but nests in mangroves as shown here. The eggs, usually 2 or 3, are a pale green-blue.

This painting was done from a sketch I made standing on the new little bridge at Nanny Cay, looking eastward through the mangroves. This bridge had to be built after Irma when a flying catamaran had landed upside down on the former security hut, closing the road and destroying the former bridge linking the Cay with Tortola.