A Preliminary Survey on the Diet Selection and Feeding
Strategies Employed by Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis
coromandus) in Jammu (JandK), India

Deep Novel Kour

Abstract

A Preliminary Survey on the Diet Selection and Feeding Strategies Employed by Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis coromandus) in Jammu (J&K), India

Deep Novel Kour

This documentation reports an analysis of the diet selection along with the diverse feeding strategies being utilised by Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis coromandus) from Jammu. In the study area, Cattle Egrets were recorded to be strictly insectivorous with the preference of grasshoppers, flies, house crickets, mole crickets and earthworms in the grassland ecosystem and beetles, backswimmers, molluscs, orthoptera larvae, fishes and frogs in aquatic ecosystem. Moreover, the behavioural methods, like walking steadily in shallow waters, running with stabs usually on land, standing and waiting and capturing flying prey from a standing position were registered to be the main feeding techniques exploited by Cattle Egrets during the study period.