Cape Teal

Anas capensis

Brackish pans. Pale duck with pink bill. Above dark brown; feathers edged creamy; head and below white, well spotted dark brown.

Ducks, Geese

Not Endemic

Description

Common resident. A small, pale duck with pink upturned bill; looks almost white at a distance. In flight shows a predominantly white speculum with a dark green central patch. immature resembles adult. Usually silent. In flocks (large flocks when in wing-moult) on coastal lagoons, saltpans, sewage ponds and tidal mudflats. Has a preference for brackish waters and soda lakes. Long-distance movements have been recorded within southern Africa.

Quick Facts

Bird Family

Most of the region's ducks are either migratory to some extent or locally nomadic, their movements being dictated by food, rainfall and breeding requirements. Many show marked plumage differences between the sexes. Ducks and geese undergo a flightless four-to-eight-week period each year when they moult all their flight feathers simultaneously. The large Spur-winged and Egyptian Geese differ from geese of the northern hemisphere in having longer bills and legs, the African Pygmy-Goose being our only representative of the ‘true' geese. Ducks of the genus *Dendrocygna* (whistling ducks), which include the White-faced and Fulvous whistling ducks, differ from those of other genera in having close-set legs placed well back on the body. This enables them to stand erect and walk without waddling. In addition they show no sexual dimorphism and have whistling voices. In contrast, ducks of the genus *Anas*, often referred to as dabbling ducks, have widely spaced legs placed centrally on the body. This causes them to stand with the body horizontally and to walk with a waddle. They are further typified by quacking voices.