Bird of the day: Cattle Egret and 4 Iguanas in one picture

Cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis)

Two Cattle Egrets landed in a tree across the street the other day. The cattle Egret is a white heron with a stout yellow bill. These two are getting in to their breeding plumage. You can tell by the buff yellow-orange plumes on head, neck and back.

These birds live all over the world but originally they lived in Southern Spain and Portugal, tropical and subtropical Africa and Asia. It was first spotted in the Americas on the border of Suriname and Guayana in 1877. They apparently flew over the Atlantic Ocean.

Nowadays these birds are one of the more common birds in Suriname. They can often be found around cows who disturb the insects, grasshoppers and beetles these birds feed on. They often sit on the cows as well, looking for flies and parasites. These birds have also learned to hang around diggers doing ground works, disturbing the insects that they eat.

In the evening they fly towards their roosting places at the mouths of the Surinam rivers. There you can see hundreds of them in the mangrove forests and other big trees along the rivers, sometimes with other egrets and herons.

The breeding season varies and depends on where they live. But in Suriname they breed all year round. The nest is an untidy platform of twigs and sticks in a bush or tree. The male collects the sticks and twigs and the female arranges them. They lay between one and five pale white-blue eggs. Both parents incubate the eggs for 23 days. They fledge after 30 days and become independent after 45 days.

An older picture from October last year

Less then a week ago I posted that I saw three iguanas in a bush and took a photograph. I was originally quite pleased with that because I find them very beautiful. But now there were four and I'm not so pleased anymore. I thought they eat insects but it turns out that they are herbivores.

They eat young shoots, fruits and flowers. The bush that they are in is some kind of cherry bush and I was wondering why it hasn't produced fruit for a while. Now I begin to understand. These lovely Iguanas turn out to be a pest. They probably also eat the flowers of our citrus trees.

I haven't decided what to do with them. Catch them or trap them? Maybe relocate them? Kill them or shall I just leave them. If anybody has a smart solution that doesn't involve killing, please let me know.

It's a very interesting question for all the vegans and vegetarians out there. What to do with pests? If pests eat your crops, you'll starve. But by killing the pests, your veggies are suddenly not so vegan anymore.

I always thought that rats were the main culprits who were eating my peppers and tomatoes but maybe it were the Iguanas after all?

Rats!

Much love,

gardenbsquared