MOTTLED DUCK GALLERY
(Anas fulyigula)
eBird describes the Mottled Duck this way: Dark-bodied with a creamy face. About the same size as Mallard. Overall color is darker than female Mallards and paler than American Black Duck. White bars in wing are very narrow, and may not be noticeable. Males have bright yellow bill, females have duller olive bill. Inhabits wetlands of Florida and coastal areas from Louisiana to Mexico.
As I left Bolivar Flats on the evening of May 21, 2020, I spyied a solitary duck in a marsh off the main road. I took a picture, and identified it as a female Mottled Duck.
“Cool Facts” About the Mottled Duck From All About Birds:
- Mottled Ducks form pair bonds even earlier than most other ducks—typically by November before the breeding season starts the following spring. In many dabbling duck species, the pair splits up as soon as the female lays eggs, but male Mottled Ducks tend to remain with their mate well into the incubation period and sometimes later.
- Mottled Ducks are closely related to Mallards, Mexican Ducks, and American Black Ducks and sometimes hybridize with them. They’re more closely related to Mexican and American Black Ducks (both species in which the males look like the females, as Mottled Ducks) than they are to Mallards (in which males and females look very different).
- The oldest recorded Mottled Duck was at least 13 years, 7 months old when he was shot in Florida, the same state where he had been banded.