The little greats

Two baby great egrets, properly known as egretlets, excitedly flapping their wings at the sight of their mother (not in photo) coming back with some food for them. Great egrets are large, widely distributed birds found in Asia, Africa, the Americas and southern Europe. They seek out tropical and warmer temperate regions, where they build tree nests in colonies close to water. Owing to such a large distribution, great egrets often share their habitat with other similar species. They live close to water particularly for foraging and feed mainly on fish, frogs, insects, crustaceans, and small mammals and reptiles. Interestingly, not all the young that hatch in a single nest survive the nestling period. It is common, especially in poor breeding conditions, for larger egretlets to be aggressive towards the smaller ones, often killing them – a behaviour known as siblicide, which is not uncommon among many birds such as hawks, herons and owls. However, these two siblings, spotted in Rangpur, seem to have each other's backs! 
 

PHOTO: MOSABBER HOSSAIN RIBON