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The preferred diet of cattle egrets

Making It Grow Radio Minute
Provided
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SC Public Radio
Making It Grow, with host Amanda McNulty

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.

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Amanda McNulty is a Clemson University Extension Horticulture agent and the host of South Carolina ETV’s Making It Grow! gardening program. She studied horticulture at Clemson University as a non-traditional student. “I’m so fortunate that my early attempts at getting a degree got side tracked as I’m a lot better at getting dirty in the garden than practicing diplomacy!” McNulty also studied at South Carolina State University and earned a graduate degree in teaching there.