Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Cattle egrets are in the same genus as herons and most herons do in fact eat a lot of fish. Some people worry that cattle egrets nesting on their property or near ponds will decimate the fish populations. Well, they won’t. They might eat a small frog or lizard if it’s flushed out by farm equipment, but what they like are insects, particularly grasshoppers. One study found that over half of their diet was in fact these voracious plant eaters often called locusts – a swarm of locusts that could wipe out a whole field in hours. So although other herons are skilled at catching and eating fish, if you have cattle egrets nesting on your property, fish will be there for you to eat --if you can catch them.
The preferred diet of cattle egrets

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