Mottled Duck

About the Mottled Duck

The Mottled Duck is the Gulf Coast's own mallard - a dark, richly mottled brown duck that never migrates, living its whole life in the coastal marshes and prairie wetlands from Texas to Florida. Drake and hen look alike; the drake's clean yellow bill (hers is orange with dark smudges) is the main difference.

Look for the tell in flight or a wing-stretch: an iridescent blue-green wing patch without the bold white borders a mallard shows, on a body darker than any mallard hen, with a contrastingly paler head and neck.

Mottled Ducks pair up in fall and nest early, hiding their nests in thick marsh grass. They are almost never in big flocks - pairs and small parties in a resaca, a rice field, or a roadside ditch are the typical sighting.

The species' quiet threat is its famous cousin: released domestic mallards hybridize with Mottled Ducks, diluting the pure population - a real management concern in Florida, so far less severe in Texas. A true coastal Texan, built for the marsh it never leaves.