Phil and I were finishing a hike at Fort Hill the other day when we saw something white in the tall grass among the yellow flowers. It looked like an Egret, but what was an Egret doing in the middle of a meadow? We usually see them on the salt marsh on near the shore. (Click on blog link for other photos.)

We clicked away and then went home and did some research. It was a  Cattle Egret which we had only seen once before in a little overflow pond a few years ago here on the Cape. “Cattle Egrets stalk insects and other small animals on the ground in grassy fields. They are much less often seen in water than other herons.”

An interesting fact is how it got its name:  “The Cattle Egret forages at the feet of grazing cattle, head bobbing with each step, or rides on their backs to pick at ticks.” Pretty cool, don’t you think?