Bubulcus ibis
Western Cattle Egrets are white, small, stocky and short-necked wading birds with orange-colored bills and legs. During the breeding season the legs, bills and irises of Western Cattle Egrets turn reddish and they can have yellow, orange or bluish-purple breeding plumes.
This landing Cattle Egret is slightly symbolic of my arrival in a new state and seeing the birds and wildlife of Oklahoma right outside my back door every day.
When I was at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge a few days ago, I found and photographed this Western Cattle Egret while on the Wildlife Drive auto tour route.
The first time I remember seeing Cattle Egrets I was a child who had just moved to interior Florida, I think I was in the second grade at the time or about 7 to 8 years old and these white birds that followed cattle around seemed so fascinating and exotic to me.