This southern African spurfowl has pale cheeks and a dark cap, and searches for food on the ground.
It is dark brown with fine grey-and-white markings and bolder white stripes on the lower breast and flanks. The cheeks are pale and the cap is dark.
Cape Spurfowl eat seeds on the ground and may take grain in cultivated fields. Farming and the feeding lives of these birds can therefore meet in the same place.
In May 2017, Cape Spurfowl near Greyton in South Africa’s Western Cape were seen falling during attempted flight and struggling to move. Three carcasses were examined; their crops contained bluish barley seeds, while sown grain remained visible on the fields.
A farmer reported treating seed with imidacloprid. Analysis detected the insecticide in crop contents and liver samples. Published in 2018, the case documented a pathway through which seed-eating birds encountered a crop-protection chemical in their food.
IUCN Red List (BirdLife listing) · Least Concern · Global
BirdLife’s IUCN category table lists the Cape Spurfowl as globally Least Concern. The Western Cape case demonstrates a hazard from exposed treated seed. The authors recommend covering sown seed with soil and removing spills to reduce exposure of granivorous birds.