On the way back, we saw what looked like a plastic bag stuck in the grass next to a bison. At the same time, Dave and I said, "Hey, that's a cattle egret!" There were two following the bison very closely, picking out bugs that the bison stirred up, I guess.
While not unheard of in North Dakota, the Sibley Guide to Birds puts them at an infrequent status, but Cornell puts them in their winter range here. I don't know if I believe that. I've certainly never seen them in ND before.
In North America, I've only ever seen cattle egrets in Florida. We did see plenty of cattle egrets in Africa last fall.
Cattle egret and cape buffalo
Cattle egret, hippopotamus, and yellow-billed storkUnfortunately, I didn't get a photo of them. I didn't have my camera and when I went back to get their picture, they were gone.
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We see dozens of cattle egrets here in San Antonio. I photographed them and uploaded them to wiki some years ago. They (the photographs, not the birds) were subsequently removed when wiki updated the site. At that time, it was generally two flocks, about a dozen in each flock seen on an annual basis near Lackland Air Force Base, southwest part of the city.
You are correct; in North America, cattle egrets were first spotted in Florida, 1948, if I remember correctly. Since then, they have migrated west, and they are as far inland as San Antonio, as mentioned.
No water buffalo here. Actually, come to think of it, no cattle either.
Yeah I didn't realize they were native to Africa and Asia, but they have been in the Western Hemisphere since the late-1800s. They have nested in North America since approximately 1950.
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