The Mottled Duck (Anas fulvigula) is a medium-sized dabbling duck. It is intermediate in appearance between female Mallard and American Black Duck. It is closely related to those species, and is sometimes considered a race of the former.
This duck is common within its restricted range. The breeding habitat is coastal marshes in the southeastern USA, just extending into Mexico. The nest is built on the ground amongst vegetation.
The adult Mottled Duck is 55cm long. It has a dark body, lighter head and neck, orange legs and dark eyes. Both sexes have a shiny green-blue wing patch, which is not bordered with white as with the Mallard. Male and female are similar, but the male's bill is bright yellow, whereas the female's has a greenish yellow hue.
The plumage is darker than female Mallard, especially at the tail, and the bill is yellower. In flight, the lack of a white border to the speculum is a key difference. Black Duck is darker than Mottled Duck, and has a bluer wing patch. The behaviour and voice are the same as for Mallard.
Mottled Ducks feed by dabbling in shallow water, and grazing on land. They mainly eat plants, but also some molluscs and aquatic insects.
Mottledducks -- often called "fl mallards" in Texas and "canard noir d'ete" in Louisiana -- are a staple of coastal waterfowl hunters.
While other duck species regularly are banded on their northern nesting grounds, and some are banded on wintering grounds in southern states such as Texas and Louisiana, very few mottledducks have been banded over the past couple of decades.
The majority of the mottledduck capturing involves nighttime raids on marsh ponds and shallow reservoirs with airboats, spotlights and and a combination of brilliant boat driving and fast-handed snatching.
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