Website design and all images and text copyright Stephanie Jackson 2011

Australian cattle egret chick IMG 7384 - Life can be cruel in the animal world, and this cattle egret chick was dealt a harsh hand. Cattle egrets nest in large colonies, and it's not unusual for chicks to scramble about enthusiastically among the jumble of nests in a tree's high branches. Many loose their balance and fall to the ground - and this chick was one such unfortunate creature. It had fallen into dense grass on the edge of a muddy riverbank, and once out of the nest, its parents abandoned it to die among the rotting carcasses of others that had met a similar fate.