Duck-like Birds

Mottled Duck Anas fulvigula

Description

21" (53 cm). Mottled dark brown and sandy. Similar to a female Mallard, but bill clear yellow or orange-yellow, throat plain tawny, and tail dark rather than whitish.

Habitat Coastal marshes and lagoons. Nesting 9-13 pale greenish eggs in a down-lined nest of grass concealed in vegetation near a shore.

Range

Resident in southern Florida and along Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Texas.

Voice

A loud quack, like that of a Mallard.

Discussion

This southern duck is a very close relative of the widespread Mallard. Until recently, no other duck of the genus Anas nested in these coastal marshes, and so the distinctive male plumage, which among these birds enables females to identify mates of their own species, was gradually lost. After thousands of years of evolutionary change, the two sexes are colored alike.