Harteman Wildfowl - Cape shelduck

Cape shelduck

Tadorna cana
Dutch: Grijskop casarca / Kaapse casarca
German: Graukopfkasarka
French: Tadorne du Cap / Casarca du Cap

Text by Dan Cowell
GBWF.org

The Cape shelduck, or South African Shelduck, lives along riverbanks, ponds and shallow lakes in South Africa.

Sometimes confused with the Ruddy Shelduck, drakes have a gray head and neck with buff breast. The rest of the body is chestnut red, similar to the Ruddy. Hens are close in appearance to the drake, but have a white face surrounded by a darker brown head.
There are many orinthologists that believe the Cape Shelduck is in fact a subspecies of the Ruddy, due in large part to their similar appearance and habits. Their care in captivity is nearly identical to the Ruddy. They are aggressive towards other species and will need to be housed apart from smaller ducks.

Their breeding season is from May to June, in the wild, they use holes and burrows made by other animals, in captivity, use a half-buried, as in other shelducks. They lay 7 to 15 eggs which hatch after 30 days.

Ringsize: 13mm