Western cattle egret

Ardea ibis Linnaeus, 1758

The western cattle egret (Ardea ibis) is a bird in the family Ardeidae and the order Pelecaniformes, also called the cattle egret, cowbird or tick bird. It is a small, terrestrial bird with a representative adult body mass of 365.9 g, and reported values from 311 g to 372 g.

Photo: El Golli Mohamed · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the western cattle egret

Its diet category is omnivore, its trophic level is carnivore, and it is recorded in human-modified land habitat and is partially migratory. It lays one clutch per year with 4.25 eggs per clutch, incubates eggs for 22.85 days, and is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, not a threatened category.

Weight: 311 g – 372 gsrc for Weight
Length: Not recorded
Lifespan: 18.4 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet: Omnivoresrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan: 23 years
Main food: Not recorded
Habitat: human_modifiedsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation: 22.9 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch: 4.25src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity: 20.9 months – 2 yearssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year: 1src for Litters or clutches a year
Lifestyle: Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration: Partialsrc for Migration
Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record: Not recorded

Photos of the western cattle egret

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Western cattle egret (Ardea ibis) — Giles Laurent · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the western cattle egret live?

Not recorded

What is the western cattle egret?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The western cattle egret (Ardea ibis) is a species of heron (family Ardeidae) found in the tropics, subtropics and warm temperate zones. Formerly, most taxonomic authorities lumped this species and the eastern cattle egret together (called the cattle egret), but the two cattle egrets are now treated as separate species. Despite the similarities in plumage to the egrets of the genus Egretta, it is more closely related to the herons of Ardea. Originally native to parts of Africa, southwest Asia and southern Europe, it has undergone a rapid expansion in its distribution and successfully colonised much of the New World in the last century.
It is a white bird adorned with buff plumes in the breeding season. It nests in colonies, usually near bodies of water and often with other wading birds. The nest is a platform of sticks in trees or shrubs. Western cattle egrets exploit drier and open habitats more than other heron species. Their feeding habitats include seasonally inundated grasslands, pastures, farmlands, wetlands and rice paddies. They often accompany cattle or other large mammals, catching insect and small vertebrate prey disturbed by these animals. Some populations of the cattle egret are migratory and others show post-breeding dispersal.
The adult cattle egret has few predators, but birds or mammals may raid its nests, and chicks may be lost to starvation, calcium deficiency or disturbance from other large birds. This species maintains a special relationship with cattle, which extends to other large grazing mammals; wider human farming is believed to be a major cause of their suddenly expanded range. The cattle egret removes ticks and flies from cattle and consumes them. This benefits both species, but it has been implicated in the spread of tick-borne animal diseases.

From the Wikipedia article “Western cattle egret” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Western_cattle_egret&oldid=1384686261), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the western cattle egret endangered?

The western cattle egret is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

LCLeast Concern
NTNear Threatened
VUVulnerable
ENEndangered
CRCritically Endangered
EWExtinct in the Wild
EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

How is the western cattle egret classified?

kingdomAnimalia
phylumChordata
classAves
orderPelecaniformes
familyArdeidae
genusArdea
SpeciesArdea ibis Linnaeus, 1758

Synonyms Ardea bubulcus, Ardea ibis ibis, Ardea ibis ibis, Ardeola ibis, Ardeola ibis ibis, Ardeola ibis seychellarum, Bubulcus ibis, Bubulcus ibis ibis, Bubulcus ibis seychellarum, Bubulcus ruficrista, Bulbucus ibis, Egretta ibis, Egretta ibis ibis

Other names and names in other languages (126)

African cattle egretEnglish
Cattle egretEnglish
CowbirdEnglish
Tick birdEnglish
Western cattle-egretEnglish
VeeryerAfrikaans
BosluisvoëlAfrikaans
VeereierAfrikaans
Veereier (Bosluisvoël)Afrikaans
FooshatkaAlabama
طير بقرArabic
أبو قردانArabic
ابن الماءArabic
بلشون القطعانArabic
بلشون الماشيةArabic
Pescairet boyeroAragonese
Misir vağıAzerbaijani
Егіпецкая чапляBelarusian
Чапля егіпецкаяBelarusian
Егiпецкая чапляBelarusian
Биволска чаплаBulgarian
গো বকBangla
Bugerc'heizBreton
esplugabousCatalan
Esplugabous occidentalCatalan
volavka rusohlaváCzech
Crëyr gwarthegWelsh
Crёyr y GwarthegWelsh
KohejreDanish
KuhreiherGerman
Westlicher KuhreiherGerman
އިރުވައިހުދުDivehi
ΓελαδάρηςGreek
bovardeoEsperanto
Garza boyeraSpanish
Garceta BueyeraSpanish
Garcilla bueyeraSpanish
Garcilla bueyera africanaSpanish
Garcilla bueyera occidentalSpanish
Garcita bueyeraSpanish
Garza boyera africanaSpanish
Garza bueyeraSpanish
Garza GanaderaSpanish
Garza ganadera africanaSpanish
Garza ganadera occidentalSpanish
Garzita bueyeraSpanish
veisehaigurEstonian
Lertxuntxo itzainBasque
گاوچرانکPersian
lehmähaikaraFinnish
Héron garde-bœufsFrench
Garde-bœufs OccidentalFrench
Héron garde-boeufsFrench
FeereagerWestern Frisian
Éigrit eallaighIrish
Garza boieiraGalician
Hoko'i vakaGuarani
BalbelaHausa
אנפית בקרHebrew
אנפית בקר מערביתHebrew
čaplja govedaricaCroatian
pásztorgémHungarian
Տառեղ եգիպտականArmenian
Kuntul kerbauIndonesian
KúhegriIcelandic
Airone guardabuoiItalian
Airone guardabuoi occidentaleItalian
アマサギJapanese
ニシアマサギJapanese
МысырпсыхэуэKabardian
Сарықұйрык құтанKazakh
ಗೋವಕ್ಕಿKannada
황로Korean
GaranîkKurdish
KoureeërLuxembourgish
ibinis garnysLithuanian
Ibiškasis garnysLithuanian
lopu gārnisLatvian
чапја говедаркаMacedonian
കാലിമുണ്ടിMalayalam
गाय बगळाMarathi
Burung Bangau KendiMalay
ကျွဲကျောင်းဗျိုင်းBurmese
वस्तु बकुल्लाNepali
KoereigerDutch
Westelijke koereigerDutch
kuhegreNorwegian
Garabèt di BacaPapiamento
Garabèt di BakaPapiamento
Keremlal SechouPalauan
czapla złotawaPolish
Ardeola ibisPiedmontese
ڈنگر ایگرٹWestern Panjabi
CarraceiroPortuguese
carraceiro-ocidentalPortuguese
Garça-boieiraPortuguese
garça-boieira-ocidentalPortuguese
Garça-VaqueiraPortuguese
Stârc de cireadăRomanian
Египетская цапляRussian
GussáháigirNorthern Sami
gussaháigirNorthern Sami
hltavka chochlatáSlovak
kravja čapljaSlovenian
FudzamombeShona
Чапља говедаркаSerbian
Čaplja govedarkaSerbian
lilandaSwati
kohägerSwedish
västlig kohägerSwedish
உண்ணிக்கொக்குTamil
นกยางควายThai
Öküz BalıkçılıTurkish
Sığır BalıkçılıTurkish
ModisaneTswana
MmamolehaneTswana
moDisakgomoTswana
DzandzaTsonga
чапля єгипетськаUkrainian
LihamakholomoVenda
Cò maVietnamese
iLandaXhosa
牛背鷺Chinese
西方牛背鷺〔西方黃頭鷺〕Chinese
西牛背鹭Chinese
UmlindankomoZulu

Catalogue of Life Wikipedia iNaturalist TAXREF Wikidata WoRMS IUCN Red List

Relatives of the western cattle egret

Other species in the same genus Ardea.

Grey heron

Ardea cinerea

Ardeidae

Great egret

Ardea alba

Ardeidae

Purple heron

Ardea purpurea

Ardeidae

Goliath heron

Ardea goliath

Ardeidae

Great blue heron

Ardea herodias

Ardeidae

Medium egret

Ardea intermedia

Ardeidae

CompareWestern cattle egret vs Grey heron Western cattle egret vs Great egret Western cattle egret vs Purple heron Western cattle egret vs Goliath heron

Common questions

Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.

What kind of animal is the western cattle egret?

The western cattle egret is a bird in the family Ardeidae, order Pelecaniformes, genus Ardea.

How much does the western cattle egret weigh?

Its representative adult body mass is 365.9 g, with reported values from 311 g to 372 g.

What does the western cattle egret eat?

Its diet category is omnivore, and its trophic level is listed as carnivore.

What habitat does the western cattle egret use?

It is recorded in human-modified land, and its lifestyle is terrestrial.

Is the western cattle egret endangered?

No. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.

How long does the western cattle egret live?

Its lifespan is given as 18.42 years, with values up to 23 years reported.

How many eggs does the western cattle egret lay?

It lays 4.25 eggs per clutch and one clutch per year, with an incubation period of 22.85 days.

Who named the western cattle egret?

Ardea ibis was named by Linnaeus, 1758.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

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BibTeX

@misc{western_cattle_egret_2026,
  title = {Western cattle egret (Ardea ibis)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/western-cattle-egret},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}