The Cape teal, scientific name Anas capensis is a 44–46 cm long dabbling duck of open wetlands in sub-Saharan Africa.
Cape teal Profile
The Cape teal is discovered largely in South Africa, the place it’s particularly considerable within the Western Cape. It prefers to live in salty, brackish vleis, usually with dense reeds, and can also be very common in sewerage ponds.
Cape teal is nomadic, though it hardly ever strikes more than 250 km. It feeds primarily on bugs, with a couple of a quarter of its diet devoted to plant matter. The feminine builds the nest, which is a shallow bowl within the ground, crammed with aquatic vegetation and feathers.
Found largely in and around South Africa, the place it’s unusual to domestically considerable, being particularly populous within the Western Cape, North-West Province, and Free State Province.
Cape teal prefers to live in salty, brackish vleis, usually with dense reeds. It can also be generally present in sewerage ponds, estuaries, and farm or state dams.
Distribution
It is a thinly distributed however widespread duck, hardly ever seen in massive teams besides the molting flocks, which can quantity as much as 2000.
The Cape teal has an especially massive range and will be present in Angola; Botswana; Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
Description
Cape teal species is basically non-migratory, though it strikes opportunistically with the rains. Like many southern geese, the sexes are related.
Cape teal could be very pale and primarily gray, with a browner back and pink on the bill (younger birds lack the pink). The Cape teal can’t be confused with another duck in its range.
This is a small duck with pale, mottled grey feathers all through its body and a pink bill and reddish eyes. The speculum is green and black and bordered with white.
The feminine is barely smaller, paler in color, and less speckled than the male.
Cape teal Diet
It feeds primarily on invertebrates, with a couple of a quarter of its diet plant matter. It usually feeds at 07h00-09h00 and 15h00-17h00, by filtering on the floor, or with the head and neck submerged.
Omnivorous diet, feeding on the stems, leaves, and seeds of pondweeds, in addition to aquatic bugs, crustaceans, and tadpoles.
Cape teal species feed on aquatic vegetation and small creatures (invertebrates, crustaceans, and amphibians) obtained by dabbling. The nest is on the ground under vegetation and close to water.
Habitat
This species will be discovered around shallow saline lakes, seasonal and everlasting brackish or saline pools, rivers, seasonally flooded wetlands, farm dams, state reservoirs, coastal shorelines, estuaries, lagoons, tidal mudflats, and wastewater therapy pools.
Cape teal Behavior
This is a typically quiet species, besides throughout mating shows. The breeding male has a transparent whistle, whereas the feminine has a feeble “quack”.
Movement is Nomadic, hardly ever occurring long journeys throughout southern Africa. It normally lives in everlasting wetlands, shifting to temporary pans to breed.
Cape teal doesn’t normally fly long distances, as out of 1 survey, 2691 birds have been ringed, and of the 271 ringed birds recovered years later, only 9 moved more than 250km.
Lifespan
Averages 20 to 30 years
Cape teal Breeding
Sexual maturity, Approximately 1 to 2 years.
Cape teal lays 4-13 eggs, that are incubated solely by the feminine, for 26-30 days. The chicks, as soon as dry, are instantly led by their mom to the water, as they know easy methods to dive and swim by intuition.
They stay with their mom for about 56 days, after which they start to turn out to be impartial.
Monogamous, solitary nester, though nests will be very shut collectively. Courtship could be very elaborate, involving mutual preening, unusual calls, and swimming in circles with wings raised. Forced copulation is recurrently recorded.
The feminine builds the nest, which is a 10-16 cm large bowl, 6 cm deep. It is normally fabricated from aquatic plant leaves and stems, lined with down and contour feathers, normally positioned on reed-filled islands.
Laying dates are extraordinarily variable, as they’re opportunistic breeders, solely beginning after heavy rains.
Cape teal lays 4-13 eggs, in successive mornings.
Incubation is finished solely by the feminine, for 26-30 days. She will generally go away from the nest for 1-2 hours to wash and preen, leaving the eggs untended.
The chicks, as soon as dry, are instantly led by their mom to the water, as they know easy methods to dive and swim by intuition.
The mom protects them from hostile assaults, by making alarm calls, and pretending to be injured whereas the ducklings sprint for cover. They stay with their mom for about 56 days, after which they start to turn out to be impartial.
Females want to find nests on islands the place possible, though nest sites will be a ways from the water. The nest itself is a hole scrape within the ground, properly hid amongst small bushes, thorny bushes, or aquatic vegetation.
Cape teal Facts
Cape teal is one of many few species of dabbling geese that really dive. They are able to swim underwater with their wings closed like different true diving geese. Normally, dabbling geese dive with their wings open.
These geese have tooth-like serrations around their bill, which scientists suppose means filter-feeding is essential to this species.
Teals are usually not very vocal, but males do emit a high-pitched whistle and the feminine responds with a nasal quack.
Cape teals are recognized to carry out what’s known as ‘nod swimming’ throughout courtship. It is a fast scoot over the water floor in a semi-circle with the wings positioned in order that the speculum is displaying. However, throughout such a dance, at no time does the duck ever truly nod.
Many geese have high mortality charges in the course of the egg and duckling stage, however as a result of each parent’s increase in the teal ducklings, fewer offspring die. Cape teal is good parents and can usually aggressively defend their younger in opposition to bigger birds.
Cape teal Ecology
Cape teal is usually not endangered. The population is almost definitely growing because of new dams, reservoirs, and irrigation tasks.
They are generally hunted for meals by animals and people.
The Cape teal is doubtlessly threatened by habitat loss via wetland destruction and degradation, adjustments within the flood regime because of street building, wetland reclamation for suburb and port growth, and disturbance from tourism.
Population
The total population could be very massive with at least 10,000 mature people. The population seems to be growing and isn’t severely fragmented.
Conservation
The Cape teal is likely one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.
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