Cattle Egrets

Nomadic birds they travel far in the big country

And it is mostly where cattle are them you will see

From the grazing herds never far away

In coastal south west Victoria in Winter one sees them almost every day

White birds known as cattle egrets which for them seems an apt name

Since they like to spend their days with cattle their claim to bird fame

The life forms  the cattle disturb when grazing the white birds do eat

To them frogs and insects are a tasty treat

In a flimsy nest of sticks above a shallow lake on a high bush or small tree

The female lay white eggs of one, two, five, four or three

All of the chicks to adulthood do not survive

In Nature the weak often known to die for the strong to thrive

Some of the small life forms they devour fleeing the big trampling feet

Harmful to the land but to the egrets taste sweet

That they are friends of their fields most farmers agree

And with their grazing herds them are happy to see

To coastal south west Victoria they arrive in late May

And eat mostly insects the grazing herds disturb every day

Cattle egrets by Nature and cattle egrets by name

To associate with cattle is their claim to fame.