MAKING FORAGING DECISIONS - HOST SELECTION BY CATTLE EGRETS BUBULCUS-IBIS

Cattle Egrets forage in association with ungulates in Kenya. However, they do not forage with all species of ungulates, but select herds wit h hosts that take an average of 5-15 steps per minute and avoid slower - or faster-moving herds. Within herds having attending egrets, egret steps are positively correlated with host steps, and the number of cap ture attempts and items obtained are positively correlated with the nu mber of host steps. Thus, foraging egrets can use host steps as a pred ictor of prey availability and host suitability. A stepwise regression showed that the best model for items obtained included host species, host steps and egret steps. Cattle Egrets preferred to forage behind z ebra Equus burchelli, waterbuck Kobus defassa, wildebeest Connochactes taurinus and buffalo Syncerus caffer.