Question on Mottled Duck
- Thread starter Mark W
- Start date
Is it really true that the mottled duck never migrates and is only found i the State of Florida? What is the lineage of the mottled duck/ How did it come to be?
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The mottled duck is native to the southern 2/3s of the Florida Peninsula and the Gulf Coast salt marshes from coastal Alabama around to Mexico (where is it replaced by the Mexican Duck, which may or may not be a seperate species). Over in Texas & LA and in south Florida (Htich & Dani's neck of the woods), they tend to have more of them than we do in AL & MS.
It does not make long migrations, it breeds and winters here year around. They may make local migrations but nothing long range.
They appear to be closely related to the Black Duck and Mallard. Just as with the Black Duck, hybridization with feral mallards is becoming a problem, especially in peninsula Florida.
Here in Alabama we have a small but stable population of mottled ducks. This year their number seem to be down from the last two years of drought and hurricanes. Just like Black Ducks, they tend to be very wary birds. We may get a few during the first few days of ducks season but after that they disapear into small inaccessible marsh ponds and become very wary. I've killed about 3 in the last 10 years.
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The mottled duck is native to the southern 2/3s of the Florida Peninsula and the Gulf Coast salt marshes from coastal Alabama around to Mexico (where is it replaced by the Mexican Duck, which may or may not be a seperate species). Over in Texas & LA and in south Florida (Htich & Dani's neck of the woods), they tend to have more of them than we do in AL & MS.
It does not make long migrations, it breeds and winters here year around. They may make local migrations but nothing long range.
They appear to be closely related to the Black Duck and Mallard. Just as with the Black Duck, hybridization with feral mallards is becoming a problem, especially in peninsula Florida.
Here in Alabama we have a small but stable population of mottled ducks. This year their number seem to be down from the last two years of drought and hurricanes. Just like Black Ducks, they tend to be very wary birds. We may get a few during the first few days of ducks season but after that they disapear into small inaccessible marsh ponds and become very wary. I've killed about 3 in the last 10 years.
Matt Vanderpan
Active member
5-6 yrs ago there was a pair of Mottled Ducks that nested out at Kelly Slough NWR near Grand Forks ND.
I'll see if I can retrieve the newspaper article.
I'll see if I can retrieve the newspaper article.
Jim Chamberlin
Active member
They are in S.E. Georgia all year round as well.
Capt. John
Active member
We have quite a few in south Texas but dont shoot them because the ones down here taiste like mud.
Ron Smith
Active member
In Florida they usually travel only about 50 miles from where they are born. They had one mottled this year (fitted with a transmitter) travel 180 miles. In the north and central part of the state I am told that they are wary ducks and hard to decoy. That is not the case in south Florida. The hard part about getting them to decoy is ...getting up early, driving to the ramp, launching the boat etc. They dive into the decoys so readily that when they don't decoy it is a shock. Often I have shot 1 mottled (That is the limit here) only to have the others land and swim in the decoys. They respond so readily to a call that I have often called back birds that we have shot at back to land in the spread. My personal record is calling one love starved drake back to land 4 times. They are a tasty bird. I have banded mottleds 4 of the last 5 years with the biologists. It is one of the few birds here for the molt. They chase them with an airboat at night. Being the catch guy on the front of the boat is a lot of fun.
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Scott O.
Well-known member
Mottled ducks have their origins in Detroit Michigan actually. They were developed by General Motors in the 30"s as an experiment that predates a lot of the conservation work done now by service groups like DU, Pheasants Forever etc. (Note the name "Mottled-Ducks" and how it follows the standard GM naming conventions..."Model-Trucks", "Cattle-acks" etc.
Well like everything else GM-related, every winter these ducks would find their way to Florida, hoping to spend a few months wearing funny shirts with tropical prints and those sunglasses with huge lenses and big honking side blinders...getting sunburned and wading in the ocean. A few years went by and every year they returned reluctantly to spend their time in the ponds on the Tech Center grounds and doing research work in the labs.
But it didn't take long before they figured it out and just looked north from the Sunshine State one Spring, and said, collectively, as a species..."Screw that...I am staying down here".
And thats the story of how the Mottled Duck is only found in Florida now...except a few that wandered to South Texas where they go out to the beach, drink beer and shoot the empties with their cowboy pistols
Well like everything else GM-related, every winter these ducks would find their way to Florida, hoping to spend a few months wearing funny shirts with tropical prints and those sunglasses with huge lenses and big honking side blinders...getting sunburned and wading in the ocean. A few years went by and every year they returned reluctantly to spend their time in the ponds on the Tech Center grounds and doing research work in the labs.
But it didn't take long before they figured it out and just looked north from the Sunshine State one Spring, and said, collectively, as a species..."Screw that...I am staying down here".
And thats the story of how the Mottled Duck is only found in Florida now...except a few that wandered to South Texas where they go out to the beach, drink beer and shoot the empties with their cowboy pistols
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John Van Houten
Active member
I hunted Lake Okeechobee last weekend and had 6 swing into the dekes. If you put out a mojo they usually pile in. I was speaking to another duck hunter at the ramp, he told of running up a flock of 30 with his airboat while looking for a place to hunt for the next day. Hitch did the ringers come in up by you, they're starting to come in good down here. Still plenty of teal, few shovlers, there seems to be more woodies this year...John
Steve Sutton
Well-known member
they look like Hen Mallards, only "just a litte smaller" and "just a little different", and would definately get you into trouble....no doubt about it.....
Mottled Ducks are part of the Mallard Complex and as such are highly susceptible to gene flooding by the more aggressive Mallard.....used to be the other ducks in the complex maintained their integrity by a disassociation with Mallards on the breeding grounds even though they did mix on the wintering grounds.....
Mexican Ducks and Black Ducks have been swarmed by "feral" -"non-migratory Mallards" which seem to be more attractive to the hen's of the more somber colored species than their own species....
Mexican Ducks had a very limited range and were ultimately decided to be merely a "sub-species" of the Mallard.....I've always thought this was done because the "pure" line of Mexican Duck, at least in the U.S., was lost forever and if they had remained a full species then they would have had to have been listed as "endangered"...and that would have meant the closure of Mallard season in places where the remnants of that once unique bird occurred...and you know that wasn't going to be allowed to happen....
Mottled Ducks used to actually be considered to be two destinct sub-species...the Florida Mallard of the Southern Florida Peninsula, (Orlando and South with the occassional wanderer to the North), and the Mottled Duck of the Louisana, Texas Coast......the sub-species classification was dropped, (even though there was a geographical seperation and some noticeable taxinomic differences), and the bird became commonly known as "Mottled Duck", (although you will still hear some old Florida Duck hunters refer to them as "Florida Mallards", or "Florida Ducks").....younger Florida hunters seem to have settled on Mottled Duck which while I dislike, (as if anyone cares or asked), although not nearly so thoroughly as the even more common "MOTTLES"....acccckkk phhhhffffbbbbbbttttt).....
These days the "gap" in the range between the Louisiana/Texas population and the Florida population has closed....as Carl says there is a resident population in Alabama where in the 70's they were unheard of...and in Florida they are now common nester throughout the penninsula and into Southerrn Ga.....
They are one of the species that is always expanding its range Northwards and are often seen far from normal range, (for instance there are at least two records of them in Washington)....
Sadly the Mottled Ducks days as a pure species is fading...just as the introduction, and natural expansion, of Mallards to the NE has created a serious dilution in the Black Duck gene pool so too has the introduction of Greenheads to Florida in the form of feral birds, (everything from abandoned Easter ducklings to the game farm released birds to the agonizingly stupid Mallard release programs in S.C. and Va.), so that now instead of being "mixed" on only the wintering grounds they are now "mixed" on the breeding grounds as well.....
Florida Mallards were, and still are, a very special duck for me...my first BIG duck and always a rare one and remain a bird that I look forward to seeing, and shooting, when I'm in Florida so it hurts me to see so few of them in their "pure" form.....Florida has a well intentioned program that allows the killing of Feral Mallards outside the regular season but even if it had 100 times the participation that it now has they'd never remove enough park Mallards to stop the hybridizing....
I'm not sure what the status is in the Texas/Louisiana populations but I do know there are no shortages of feral, non-migratory populations of popcorn eaters and greenheaded trash ducks, so if there isn't already a noticeable hybridization problem there will be one soon.....
If you ever shoot what you think is one....COUNT IT AS A HEN MALLARD...unless you are in Southern Florida, Louisana, or Texas....you'll be safer for the decision.....
Steve
Mottled Ducks are part of the Mallard Complex and as such are highly susceptible to gene flooding by the more aggressive Mallard.....used to be the other ducks in the complex maintained their integrity by a disassociation with Mallards on the breeding grounds even though they did mix on the wintering grounds.....
Mexican Ducks and Black Ducks have been swarmed by "feral" -"non-migratory Mallards" which seem to be more attractive to the hen's of the more somber colored species than their own species....
Mexican Ducks had a very limited range and were ultimately decided to be merely a "sub-species" of the Mallard.....I've always thought this was done because the "pure" line of Mexican Duck, at least in the U.S., was lost forever and if they had remained a full species then they would have had to have been listed as "endangered"...and that would have meant the closure of Mallard season in places where the remnants of that once unique bird occurred...and you know that wasn't going to be allowed to happen....
Mottled Ducks used to actually be considered to be two destinct sub-species...the Florida Mallard of the Southern Florida Peninsula, (Orlando and South with the occassional wanderer to the North), and the Mottled Duck of the Louisana, Texas Coast......the sub-species classification was dropped, (even though there was a geographical seperation and some noticeable taxinomic differences), and the bird became commonly known as "Mottled Duck", (although you will still hear some old Florida Duck hunters refer to them as "Florida Mallards", or "Florida Ducks").....younger Florida hunters seem to have settled on Mottled Duck which while I dislike, (as if anyone cares or asked), although not nearly so thoroughly as the even more common "MOTTLES"....acccckkk phhhhffffbbbbbbttttt).....
These days the "gap" in the range between the Louisiana/Texas population and the Florida population has closed....as Carl says there is a resident population in Alabama where in the 70's they were unheard of...and in Florida they are now common nester throughout the penninsula and into Southerrn Ga.....
They are one of the species that is always expanding its range Northwards and are often seen far from normal range, (for instance there are at least two records of them in Washington)....
Sadly the Mottled Ducks days as a pure species is fading...just as the introduction, and natural expansion, of Mallards to the NE has created a serious dilution in the Black Duck gene pool so too has the introduction of Greenheads to Florida in the form of feral birds, (everything from abandoned Easter ducklings to the game farm released birds to the agonizingly stupid Mallard release programs in S.C. and Va.), so that now instead of being "mixed" on only the wintering grounds they are now "mixed" on the breeding grounds as well.....
Florida Mallards were, and still are, a very special duck for me...my first BIG duck and always a rare one and remain a bird that I look forward to seeing, and shooting, when I'm in Florida so it hurts me to see so few of them in their "pure" form.....Florida has a well intentioned program that allows the killing of Feral Mallards outside the regular season but even if it had 100 times the participation that it now has they'd never remove enough park Mallards to stop the hybridizing....
I'm not sure what the status is in the Texas/Louisiana populations but I do know there are no shortages of feral, non-migratory populations of popcorn eaters and greenheaded trash ducks, so if there isn't already a noticeable hybridization problem there will be one soon.....
If you ever shoot what you think is one....COUNT IT AS A HEN MALLARD...unless you are in Southern Florida, Louisana, or Texas....you'll be safer for the decision.....
Steve
Ron Smith
Active member
Steve, I am calling them "Florida Ducks" or "Florida mallards" less and less because those names are lost on a great number of south Florida hunters these days... they have no idea what I am talking about. When I hunted with a bunch of cajuns in LA several years ago they called them "summer mallards" since they look a lot like an eclipse greenhead. I am sad to see these regional names fading away. I have a few old friends that I can still say "Florida duck" and not have to explain. Dani ... thanks...I think? Notice that I still had a complete ring finger and pinkie at that time. It was 3 years ago. Last time I went banding I was with David Blood in STA 5. He can really handle an airboat. I hang over the bow while he chases birds to position the boat right where I can grab them on the fly. It is indeed a lot of fun.
Steve Sutton
Well-known member
and for sure I know, and am glad, that there are others still on the water that are older than us but I sure see them less and less these days, to make sure that these "whipper snappers" and "young guns" know that they aren't the ones that discovered ducks, or duck hunting, in Florida and there are, by God, traditions that need to be respected.....
They'll likely continue to ignore us, just as they'll continue to use terms like "Ringers" and "Woodrows", (two more corruptions that make my teeth hurt), but I'm going to use Florida Mallards till just before they jerk me out the chair I'm going to be sitting in at my own wake.....maybe between now and then one or two will pay attention....
Like Dani I think that picture is great....reminds me of the slightly crazy, (and thats meant in the very best of ways), Uncle who was always willing to mess with us kids instead of sitting in the living room with the other adults who were complaining about how noisy the kids were...they never quite figured out that it was the Crazy Uncle that was egging us on to be that loud.....
Get me a spot on the bow of that Airboat...I wanna do that afore I'm too old ...
Steve
They'll likely continue to ignore us, just as they'll continue to use terms like "Ringers" and "Woodrows", (two more corruptions that make my teeth hurt), but I'm going to use Florida Mallards till just before they jerk me out the chair I'm going to be sitting in at my own wake.....maybe between now and then one or two will pay attention....
Like Dani I think that picture is great....reminds me of the slightly crazy, (and thats meant in the very best of ways), Uncle who was always willing to mess with us kids instead of sitting in the living room with the other adults who were complaining about how noisy the kids were...they never quite figured out that it was the Crazy Uncle that was egging us on to be that loud.....
Get me a spot on the bow of that Airboat...I wanna do that afore I'm too old ...
Steve
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Ed Askew
Well-known member
In South Louisiana they are very good to eat but hard to kill. They act like they know us. We think we see groups of mottled ducks at the head of flocks of mallards, keeping them away from our spread. They look like female mallards but the GW should have no problem telling the difference; we don't. The males have a yellowish bill, not quite as bright usually as a mallard drake but sometime it is. Last year I took all the greenhead dekes out of my spread and painted them like mottled ducks; best year I had in a long time.
Ed.
Ed.
Jay Anglin
Well-known member
Increasingly over the past decade I hear reports of Mottled Ducks up here. Only a month ago on St Clair in Michigan...a place where Black Duck are common, I had a guy tell me at the boat ramp that they had killed a gorgeous mottled. I've heard this on the Wabash River as well...a Black Duck wintering area. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that these birds are either blacks or more likely black/mallard hybrids which are very commonly taken as they mix with mallards so often. With backcrossing mallard/black hybrids the hens are prone to look like Mottled Ducks in my opinion and after a generation or more of backcrossing there is no limit to the variety of plummation you will see with these common hybrids. I'm not going to say that a Mottled Duck or two doesn't venture up here occasionally but I think the odds are pretty certain that these "mottleds" are actually blacks or black/mallard hybrids.