About Spatula smithii E.Hartert, 1891
The Cape shoveler (also spelled Cape shoveller), with the scientific name Spatula smithii, is a species of dabbling duck in the genus Spatula. It is a permanent resident in South Africa, and occurs uncommonly further north in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, southern Angola, Lesotho, Mozambique, and Zambia. This duck is 51–53 cm long, non-migratory, but does make limited local seasonal movements. When not breeding, it is gregarious and may gather in large flocks. This species has a large, spatula-shaped bill. Adult individuals have speckled grey-brown plumage and dull orange legs. Like many duck species native to the southern hemisphere, the sexes of Cape shovelers look very similar. However, the male can be distinguished by a paler head than the female, a pale blue forewing separated from the green speculum by a white border, and yellow eyes; the female's forewing is grey. Cape shovelers can only be confused with vagrant female northern shovelers, but Cape shovelers are much darker and stockier than that species. Cape shovelers live in open wetland habitats, such as wet grassland or marshes with some emergent vegetation. They feed by dabbling for plant matter, often swinging their bill from side to side to strain food out of the water. During the nesting season, they also eat molluscs and insects. The nest is a shallow depression on the ground, lined with plant material and down, and is usually built close to water. This is a fairly quiet duck species. Males produce rarr and cawick calls, while females produce a quack. The Cape shoveler was described by German ornithologist Ernst Hartert in 1891 under its current binomial name Spatula smithii. The specific epithet smithii honors Scottish zoologist Andrew Smith. The IUCN Red List lists the conservation status of the Cape shoveler as least concern.
