page_title: Cape wagtail
section_title: Distribution and habitat
hierarchical_section_title: Cape wagtail / Distribution and habitat
caption_attribution_description: Motacilla capensis photographed in Natures Valley, South Africa
context_page_description: The Cape wagtail, also known as Wells's wagtail, is a small insectivorous bird which is widespread and fairly common in the southern Afrotropics, and occurs besides in some uplands of tropical Africa. It frequents water's edge, lawns and gardens. It is a mostly resident, territorial species, but they may undertake limited altitudinal migration or form flocks outside the breeding season. Like other wagtails they are passerine birds of the family Motacillidae, which also includes the pipits and longclaws.
context_section_description: Cape wagtails are found in eastern and southern Africa from Uganda, the eastern DRCongo 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.
caption: M. c. subsp. capensis on the South African south coast
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