Ooty: Ecological conditions and behavioral sciences seem be different and intriguing for the animal kingdom, especially where the lives of avians are concerned when one looks at the large numbers of cattle egret birds that have flocked to the hills when the hills here are being drenched in the rains. They have migrated from the plains of Mysuru to enjoy their prey, predominantly, earthworms, during the rains here.
For the past two days there has been a sudden surge in the arrival of cattle egrets in flocks, and they are seen dominating the grasslands in and around Ooty town limits, including the Government arts college (GAC) ground here.
Dr.B.Ramakrishnan, Assistant Professor of Zoology and Wildlife Biology at the GAC here, said that cattle egrets, a local migratory bird which generally follows cattle to catch their prey in the vicinity of wetlands, love a meal of earthworms.
During the continuous rains, earthworms in the sub-soil surface below the grass cover, try to move up as percolating water makes life tough for them. “These cattle egrets migrate due to their natural instinct, towards areas in the hills and land in the grasslands where there are rains to prey on earthworms. This is a simple behavioral and migratory biology. But it is ecologically important in the life of the egret,” he noted.
