Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) may not be the most obvious migrant but shows local and potentially long-distance movements across most of its range.
It has such a propensity for movement that African birds have spread all the way to northern Europe and both North and South America during the last century! In the Americas, northern populations now migrate south for the winter. Cattle Egret tends to show up in odd places outside its usual range in autumn and spring indicating erratic long-distance migration.
Do Indian Cattle Egrets migrate? Some evidence suggests that they do. Breeding reports are few and far between in South India so Cattle Egrets that are so abundant in South India during winter presumably move further north to breed. Some birds however stay back in South India throughout the summer and do breed as well.
