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Sarasota News Leader May 17, 2013 In its native Africa and India, the swarms of flies that plague livestock and other grazing beasts can be so incredibly thick around the animals that the birds do feast and gorge themselves while perched on the beasts. Once again, Rick Greenspun has kindly provided us with a superb iconic photo, this one taken during a birding trip to Sri Lanka. He explains to us that "The poor water buffalo would submerge themselves down to their nostrils to escape the swarms of flies. Since there were no bushes around to perch on, the Indian Pond-Herons would avail themselves of the best spot around and in return, keep the flies off their noses. An unintended but mutual symbiosis." Page 75 birds to its diet," the Cornell Lab of Ornithology writes. "At Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas off the coast of Florida, migrating Cattle Egrets land on the large green lawn inside the fort, probably hoping for some nice grasshoppers. Because no insects are there to be had, the egrets try to catch the migrating warblers that also have stopped on the tiny island." In other words, they are not fussy eaters, and that is why people will often spot them in less pastoral settings such as around dumpsters, parks, sports fields and even in Siesta Key Village, where I saw one perched on the roof of a car. Not finding many ticks on this particular vehicle model, this Cattle Egret flew off, preAn opportunistic eater — as most bird species sumably to forage flies in the dusty wake of a are — "The Cattle Egret occasionally adds passing car or to check out a dumpster. File photo