I was in rural Perak, Malaysia on 11 January 2025 when I spotted a flock of Eastern Cattle-Egrets Ardea coromanda involved in an unusual behaviour. Note that a group of egrets has been called a “skewer,” “siege,” “sedge,” “wedge” and “congregation”; I will go with flock.
Plate 1. Eastern Cattle-Egret standing on a pile of smouldering oil palm fruits, Perak, Malaysia. 11 January 2025
The small flock of 6 Eastern Cattle-Egrets were standing on various parts of a steaming pile of Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis) fruit (see Plate 1 & 2). I am uncertain why the Oil Palm fruit appeared to be burning slowly – I am aware that plantations do burn the empty fruit bunch (leftover waste after the oil is extracted) to dispose of the biomass or generate energy; but these fruit bunches still had fruit on them.
Plate 2: Two of the 6 cattle egrets standing on a pile of burning oil palm fruits.
I had first considered that the Eastern Cattle-Egrets were feeding. But I only observed opportunistic feeding, when an insect came near, and no purposeful foraging.
It was quite a cold morning with overnight and ongoing morning rain. The birds appeared to me to be standing on the fruit to enjoy the heat; very much like we would do in a sauna. They did not seem perturbed by the smoke.
I am not able to find any similar behaviour for egrets. However, I have seen Eurasian Tree Sparrows Passer montanus and Pigeons gathering around a steaming vent to enjoy the heat in the highlands.
3 responses
Malaysian palm oil meets the highest international standard. This is achieved by processing freshly harvested palm fruits as soon as they are harvested. Sometimes events beyond management control upset the work flow at the mill and the fruits are then burned to maintain the quality of oil. Events which can upset the work flow at the mills: unexpectedly high yield, tractor breakdown, shortage of drivers, inclement weather, power outage at the mill and machinery breakdown at the mill. This list can be longer.
Thank you Lee Wei for the excellent insight & information.
Dear Amar,
Thank you for your appreciation.
My siblings and I had to help my parents work the oil palm plantation during the school holidays. We had to hand-pollinate the flowers, help harvest and transfer the fruits to the pick-up site and follow a strict time-table regarding harvesting, fertilising, weeding.
Malaysian palm oil is undisputably the best in the world.