MOTTLED DUCK 

 ( Anas f ulvlgula ) 



[US: Mottled Mallard, Dusky Duck, Florida Duck, Florida Mallard] 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION 



North America The Mottled Duck is a resident of peninsular Florida and the 

 Gulf coast from Alabama (Imhof 1976b) and Mississippi (Hackney and Hackney 1976) 

 south through coastal Tamaulipas at least to Tampico (Palmer 1976a). The west- 

 ern race winters in the breeding range and south to the Alvarado marshes in Vera- 

 cruz (Leopold 1959 _in Palmer 1976a); stragglers have been taken in Kansas, Okla- 

 homa, and at two localities in Colorado (Palmer 1976a). Mottled Ducks bred on 

 the Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Refuge, Barton County, Kansas, in 1963 (McHenry 

 1968). 



World Distribution The Mottled Duck is restricted to North America. 



DISTRIBUTION IN THE COASTAL SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 



Georgia Burleigh (1958) listed this species as accidental in Georgia on 

 the basis of a single specimen from Cumberland Island, taken 23 December 1902. 



Florida The Mottled Duck occurs throughout the year in peninsular Florida 

 south of a line extending from Cedar Key to Gainesville to Daytona Beach, with 

 about 60% of the population found in Hendry, Lee, Charlotte, and Glades counties 

 (E. B. Chamberlain 1960 in Bellrose 1976). Early fall populations have been es- 

 timated at 50,000 birds (Bellrose 1976). 



Kale (1979 ms a, 1979 ms b) considered it rare north of Merritt Island on 



the Atlantic coast and north of Chassahowitzka NWR on the Gulf. To the south, 



there are sight records from Key Largo (Palmer 1976a) , Summerland Key (Steven- 

 son 1978), and Key West (Edscorn 1978). 



Alabama Imhof (1976b) considered the Mottled Duck an uncommon local resi- 

 dent of the Alabama Gulf coast. Breeding birds have been found at Dauphin Is- 

 land in May and at Gulf Shores in June. The Mottled Duck is more widespread 

 outside the breeding season and has been recorded north to the head of Mobile 

 Bay. Imhof (1976b) suggested that non-breeding birds in such areas are most 

 often found in salt water and brackish marshes. 



Taxonomic note: Considered by Johnsgard (1975, 1978) as a subspecies of Mallard 

 ( Anas platyrhynchos ) , but only one form, A. fulvigula , is recognized by Palmer 

 (1976a). Others (AOU 1957, Bellrose 1976) have divided fulvigula into two 

 races: A. i_. fulvigula , the Florida Duck; and A. _f. maculosa , the Mottled Duck 

 or Mottled Mallard of the Gulf coast. 



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