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In these images in Las Fotos de los Lectores de La Vanguardia, captured in the surroundings of Manlleu, in Osona, we can see how the cattle egrets chase the sheep and perch on them.
It is an interested friendship, since these birds accompany livestock to be able to get food more easily.
In rural environments, more and more egrets are seen forming flocks of between a few to several dozen of these birds that follow the cattle (hence their name "oxen").
As can be seen in the images, there are several, so it is the strongest and most dominant ones that get the best place to access the food more easily, especially the insects that fly around the sheep.
These birds reproduce this behavior with other types of livestock as well. Studies have shown that cattle egrets that feed near these animals are more likely to feed.
Cattle egrets prefer animals that move more slowly. Livestock farmers already benefit from their presence, as they are a natural controller of livestock parasites such as ticks and horseflies.
