Synchronous commensal feeding

Pair of Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis), one of which with a stick insect catch in its bill, perched on the back of a grazing African Buffalo (Syncerus caffer). Cattle Egrets are active, voracious foragers which use the African Buffalo as their main host. Their close association is a classic example of commensalism. The egrets always forage close to where the cattle are grazing because the cattle, as they move, stir up and flush out insects from the vegetation that otherwise might be difficult for the egrets to find and catch. Captured in the Burunge Wildlife Management Area in Tanzania.