In the United States, the cattle egret can be found in every state except Indiana, New Hampshire, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming. The birds have also taken up a migratory pattern, which take them in the winter to Latin America and the Caribbean. The egret s habitat consist of fields, marshes, freshwater wetlands, pastures, livestock pens, swamps, and air strips. The cattle egret can be found near cattle because it eats the insects that associate with cattle. Cattle egrets live in colonies and are very sociable.
Colonies can consist of several hundreds of birds living in one big tree.
They also nest with other types of birds. Cattle egret travel daily to foraging areas singly or in flocks. The egrets follow cattle, wild or domesticated feeding on the insects that are disturbed by the cattle. These birds are very adaptable to the new environments. The diet of cattle egrets consists of insects particularly grasshoppers and they avoid bumble bees, wasps, and yellow jackets.