The Cape teal (''Anas capensis'') also Cape wigeon or Cape widgeon is a 44–46 cm long

dabbling duck The Anatinae are a subfamily of the family Anatidae (swans, geese and ducks). Its surviving members are the dabbling ducks, which feed mainly at the surface rather than by diving. The other members of the Anatinae are the extinct moa-nalo, a y ...

of open wetlands in sub-Saharan

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Taxonomy

The Cape teal was

formally described A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differ ...

in 1789 by the German naturalist

Johann Friedrich Gmelin Johann Friedrich Gmelin (8 August 1748 – 1 November 1804) was a German natural history, naturalist, chemist, botanist, entomologist, herpetologist, and malacologist. Education Johann Friedrich Gmelin was born as the eldest son of Philipp F ...

in his revised and expanded edition of

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

's ''

Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the Orthographic ligature, ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Sweden, Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the syste ...

''. He placed it with all the ducks, geese and swans in the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Anas ''Anas'' is a genus of dabbling ducks. It includes the pintails, most teals, and the mallard and its close relatives. It formerly included additional species but following the publication of a molecular phylogenetic study in 2009 the genus was s ...

'' and coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Anas capensis''. Gmelin based his description on the "Cape widgeon" that had been described in 1785 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his ''A General Synopsis of Birds''. The naturalist

Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English Natural history, naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the European and American voyages of scientific exploration, 1766 natural-history ...

had provided Latham with a water-colour drawing of the teal by

Georg Forster Johann George Adam Forster, also known as Georg Forster (; 27 November 1754 – 10 January 1794), was a German geography, geographer, natural history, naturalist, ethnology, ethnologist, travel literature, travel writer, journalist and revol ...

who had accompanied

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

on his second voyage to the Pacific Ocean. His picture was drawn in 1773 at the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

. This picture is now the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

for the species and is held by the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

in London. The genus name ''Anas'' is the Latin word for a duck. The specific epithet ''capensis'' indicates the Cape of Good Hope. The species is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

: no

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognised.

Description

Like many southern ducks, the sexes are similar. It is very pale and mainly grey, with a browner back and pink on the bill (young birds lack the pink). This is a generally quiet species, except during mating displays. The breeding male has a clear whistle, whereas the female has a feeble "quack". The Cape teal cannot be confused with any other

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

in its range. This species is essentially

non-migratory Bird migration is a seasonal movement of birds between breeding and wintering grounds that occurs twice a year. It is typically from north to south or from south to north. Animal migration, Migration is inherently risky, due to predation and ...

, although it moves opportunistically with the rains. It is a thinly distributed but widespread duck, rarely seen in large groups except the moulting flocks, which may number up to 2000. The Cape teal feeds on aquatic plants and small creatures (invertebrates, crustaceans and amphibians)Hockey, P.A.R., Dean, W.R.J., Ryan, P.G. (Eds). 2005. Roberts – Birds of Southern Africa, VIIth ed. The trustees of the John Voelcker bird book fund, Cape Town. obtained by dabbling. The nest is on the ground under vegetation and near water. The Cape teal is one of the species to which the ''Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds'' (

AEWA The Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds, or African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA), is an independent international treaty developed under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme's Convent ...

) applies.

Gallery

File:Anas capensis -Lake Nakuru, Kenya-8.jpg, Lake Nakuru, Kenya File:Cape Teal, Serengeti.jpg, Serengeti NP File:Anas capensis, Austin Roberts.jpg, Austin Roberts sanctuary, South Africa File:Teal Cape 2015 08 22 10 26 06 9524.jpg, Darville, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa File:Teal Cape 2015 08 22 12 09 41 0150.jpg, Darville, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa File:Teal Cape 2015 08 22 10 26 45 9538.jpg, Darville, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa File:Teal Cape 2015 08 22 10 31 19 9561.jpg, Darville, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa File:Teal Cape 2015 08 22 11 53 23 9980.jpg, Darville, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa File:Teal Cape 2015 08 22 11 56 54 0011.jpg, Darville, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa File:Teal Cape 2015 08 22 12 07 05 0091.jpg, Darville, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

References

External links

Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
{{Taxonbar, from=Q194317 Cape teal Cape teal Birds of Southern Africa Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa Cape teal Cape teal