WINDOW ON TAIWAN-Welcome to Xi yu Township

Oriental Skylark │

Calling crab，Beckoning crab and Fiddler crab

Brown Shrike│

Common Kestrel │

Cattle Egret

name：	Cattle Egret
anonymity：	Bubulcus ibis
type：	Winter bird

description：
Cattle egret—with orange-yellow peak, blackish-brown foot and toes. In summer, its feather, head, neck and the middle of the back ornament feather appears to be orange-yellow while the rest of the body is white. In winter, it has an entire body of white feather, without ornament feather. When compare with other egrets, the cattle egret has a rounder head, shorter neck and beak. They live in groups and feed on insects and amphibians. They are often seen finding food on cattle-occupied farmland or short-grass meadow in flocks.

The cattle egrets are common seen spring and autumn transitory birds, part of them are winter migratory bird. Those seen in the Xi-yu township belongs to latter. Every October of each year, they will continually migrate to the Bamboo Bay pasturage from the north. The Bamboo Bay pasturage has spacious grassland, herds of cattle and a Xiao-chi reservoir at the southern tip, which provide a place for and attract the yellow-head egrets to perch. Till the following spring, when the head and the neck of the egret turn yellow and the weather of April becomes warmer, the cattle egrets will then fly back north to their reproduction ground. There are over 40 cattle egrets staying and finding food at Xi-yu township area each year. And the Bamboo Bay pasturage obtains the most of them, thus it’s a good outdoor teaching spot to observe the natural ecology of cattle egrets.