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BIRDSWebsite 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.