HEAD AND NECK COLORATION • Light brown to grey with darker black • White quackers and with orange- streaks. White eyebrow stripe with a coloured feet are defined as hybrids. darker stripe running through eye. Cape Town Pest Alert • Light grey bill, often with yellow infusions. Mallard FEMALE (background) Light brown with darker black infusions throughout the wings and body. On the lower wing there is a dark blue speculum – a purple patch bordered by white. ( platyrhynchos) (Anas platyrhynchos)

Mallard

MALE (foreground) Chestnut-coloured breast with light grey sides and wings.

IDENTIFICATION: Purple patch on lower wing.

HEAD AND NECK Please report all sightings of mallard ducks to • Shiny green head with narrow TAILS white collar just above the chest. • Males have a characteristic curled tail. www.capetowninvasives.org.za Why is it a problem? Legal status Join the iSpot are a particularly unwelcome invasive alien species in South where Network they are known to hybridise with indigenous ducks. These threats include competitive displacement, disturbing water quality and hybridisation. Hybrid offspring are fertile 2 which further exacerbates the problem. NEMBA Category 2 Invader What can I do? Why has it adapted so well?

1) Sign up to iSpot at The climate and waterways around Cape What does the law say? Town are favourable to mallard ducks. They www.ispot.org.za also adapt extremely well to man-made parklands. Under the National Environmental 2) Take digital photos of any mallard duck you encounter Management: Biodiversity Act (NEM:BA) around dams, rivers, pond and other waterways. No. 10 of 2004, mallard ducks are designated as a Category 1b Invasive Don’t mistake mallards for: 3) Take note of the date and locality of your Alien Species. mallard duck sighting. This legislation states that: • No person may import, trade or breed 4) Upload this information and your photo onto the mallards. iSpot website where the information will be captured by • Mallards need to be managed as part of scientists who will send out a team. an invasive control plan. • Once the control plan has been adopted in an area, no person may, without a permit, possess any mallards. African black duck For more information, contact: The Cape Town Invasive Species Unit, Environmental Resource Management, Westlake Conservation Did you know? Office, Ou Kaapse Weg, Tokai. Tel: (021) 712 1434/1944 Email: [email protected] Mallards have already contaminated Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ctinvasives the genetic integrity of closely related ducks across the world and pose a serious Yellow-billed duck threat to our indigenous African black duck and yellow-billed duck.

Help us protect Cape Town’s natural heritage from alien invader plant species. Sign up online and become a volunteer. Cape teal www.capetowninvasives.org.za