Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) Allen T. Chartier
(Peterjohn and Rice 1991) and 16 were counted there in 2007 (Cuthbert and Wires 2008). Nesting in Indiana was not confirmed until 1996 where a colony of over 500 birds was found near Gibson Lake (Gibson County) in the southernmost portion of the state, but this colony was suddenly abandoned that same year and nesting has not been reported since (Castrale et al. 1998). Up to 1000 pairs consistently breed at a colony in Madison County, central Illinois, with additional colonies in other parts of the state typically involving Martin Lake, LA. 4/22/2005 © John Van Orman much smaller numbers and often ending in (Click to view a comparison of Atlas I to II) failure or abandonment (Kleen et al. 2004).
Three confirmed and one probable breeding The Cattle Egret is an Old World heron that sites were reported from northeastern Wisconsin was discovered in the New World in Suriname (confirmed in Brown, Oconto, and Winnebago between 1877-1882, and in Guyana between counties, and probable in Langlade County). 1911-1912 (Talfair II 2006). It is widely Colony size ranged from 11-100 pairs at the considered to have arrived in the New World on Brown and Oconto County sites (Cutright et al. its own, not being ship-assisted, as the species is 2006), which may be the source of records from well known for its dispersal capabilities within Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula as these its original range. From northern South America birds disperse after breeding. the Cattle Egret spread northward, being recorded in the United States for the first time in A review of Cattle Egret records from the Florida in 1941, and first found nesting there in Michigan Bird Survey between 1993 and 2007 1953. As of 2006, the Cattle Egret had been shows nearly 200 individuals reported with confirmed breeding in all but five U.S. states nearly equal numbers during spring (earliest: 10 (MT, WA, AK, NH, WV) but confirmed in only April 2001, Reinoehl 2001), summer (63 three Canadian provinces (MB, SK, ON). Nests records, but none in 1999), and fall (latest: 22 are usually in mixed species heronries in November 2006, Dombroski 2007). The woodlands, swamps, wooded islands, and majority of reports were from the southern coastal islands (Talfair II 2006). Lower Peninsula, with 40% from Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw, and Jackson Although breeding was confirmed in Bay counties; 42% from the Saginaw Bay area; and County and possible breeding was recorded in 14% from Berrien County. There were four Monroe and Ingham counties during MBBA I, records from the northern Lower Peninsula and no evidence for breeding was found through the 13 from the Upper Peninsula during this period. end of the MBBA II period (2008). This is Michigan sites with the greatest concentration of similar to the status of the species in Ontario, summer records are areas in Bay and Monroe which had confirmed breeding records in the counties, where confirmed or possible breeding early 1970s, but not since (Cadman et al. 2007). was noted in the first Atlas. In Ohio, only two small breeding colonies are known, one from an island in Sandusky Bay (3- BBS trends for the Upper Midwest region 6 pairs through 1989) and the other from West cannot be estimated as too few routes report the Sister Island in western Lake Erie. This latter species, but North American trends show a site was reduced to less than five pairs by 1987
© 2010 Kalamazoo Nature Center Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) Allen T. Chartier small annual increase (0.1%/yr) from 1966- Illinois Natural History Survey. Special 2004. However, this masks an initial Publication No. 26. exponential growth period, followed by a period Peterjohn, B.G., and D.L. Rice. 1991. The of decrease, then stabilization (Telfair II 2006). Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas. Ohio Department Cattle Egret populations appear to be stable of Natural Resources. Columbus, OH. continent-wide, but perhaps are decreasing in Reinoehl, J. 2001. Michigan Bird Survey, the region. More intense searches in some Spring 2001 (March-May). Michigan Birds difficult areas to survey in Bay and Monroe and Natural History 8(4): 193-218. counties could turn up additional confirmed nest Telfair II, R.C. 2006. Cattle Egret (Bubulcus records in the future. ibis). In The Birds of North America, No. 113 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). Ithaca: Literature Cited Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: Cadman, M.D., D.A. Sutherland, G.G. Beck, D. http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/113. Lepage, and A.R. Couturier (eds.). 2007. Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontario, Suggested Citation 2001-2005. Bird Studies Canada, Environment Canada, Ontario Field Chartier, A.T. 2010. Cattle Egret (Bubulcus Ornithologists, Ontario Ministry of Natural ibis). In Chartier, A.T., J.J. Baldy, and J.M. Resources, and Ontario Nature. Toronto, Brenneman (eds.). 2010. The Second Ontario. Michigan Breeding Bird Atlas. Kalamazoo Castrale, J.S., E.M. Hopkins, and C.E. Keller. Nature Center. Kalamazoo, MI. Accessed 1998. Atlas of Breeding Birds of Indiana. online at:
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