Cape wagtail
| Cape wagtail | |
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| Lake Bunyonyi, Uganda | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Motacillidae |
| Genus: | Motacilla |
| Species: | M. capensis |
| Binomial name | |
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Motacilla capensis Linnaeus, 1766. |
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The Cape wagtail, also known as Wells's wagtail, (Motacilla capensis) is a small African passerine bird in the family Motacillidae, which includes the wagtails, pipits and longclaws.
The cape wagtail is a rather dull plumaged and relatively short tailed wagtail with olive grey upperparts and face with a buff supercilium and dark lores. The underparts are creamy white and may show a faint pinkish wash on the lower breast and belly. The breast band is dusky and the sides of the breast and the flanks are olive-grey. The brownish black wings have pale edges to the feathers and the tail is blackish with the two outer tail feathers being white. The juveniles are similar to the adults but browner above and yellower below.
Cape wagtails are found in eastern and southern Africa from Uganda, the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya, through Zambia and Angola to southern Africa, south to the Western Cape and the Cape of Good Hope.
Cape wagtails can be found in almost any habitat that has open ground adjacent to water, and also along the rocky coastline, in farms, villages, cultivated land, parks, gardens and urban centres. In east Africa it is generally found above 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in altitude.
The Cape wagtail's main food is invertrebrates foraging is mainly on the ground or in shallow water, often feeding on animals that are already dead. It has been recorded taking insects attracted to lights in the early morning or caught in car radiators. Other than insects it has been recorded as eating fiddler crabs, sandhoppers, snails, ticks, tadpoles, small fish, small chameleons and human food.
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Wikipedia