They probably eat some chicks, I've never witnessed it. But, I have witnessed those white cattle egrets wiping out a whole brood of quail chicks. Those snake-necked long-legged things will eat anything they can swallow. I've seen them swallow a rat whole that was so big they couldn't move for half hour until it made it down that long neck and into the gut. They will encircle a big timber rattler and hold court over him until they decide how to kill him. I have seen that several times. Quail chicks have a tough row to hoe, around here, to survive these days. Between the hawks, the feral cats, the fire ants, the snakes, the cattle egrets and the turkeys, just to name a few, a grown bob has absolutely beat the odds in Georgia.

SRH

May God bless America and those who defend her.