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What the heck is classified as a mottled duck under Mississippi law. I have seen the web site about the Florida mottled ducks but I have searched and searched and can't find a definition anywhere for what qualifies as a mottled duck in Mississippi. DU doesn't identify any mottled ducks as that, that other site in one of the recent posts doesn't either. We are allowed 3 mottled ducks a day but what are they and how are they different from any number of hen species. My son asked me and I couldn't find an answer for him.

There is absolutley no way you can mix up a mottled duck with a hen mallard (unless your name is GH22), if you know how to ID a hen mallard. Other than shape they look nothing alike past the head. A mottled duck's head will stick out as being lighter colored due to the black in the rest of the body. The feather detail will be the same as a hen mallard, but MUCH more black and much more darker. Also the speculum will be green/purple rather than the blue of a hen mallard. I also don't think a mottled duck would be a common occurence in Vicksburg, they mostly stay near the coast, however can get away from it on occasoin.

In this picture the duck third from the right is a mottled duck drake as you can see MUCH darker than a mallard hen, and also a drake bill. Hope that helps.[/img]

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... en%26lr%3D

They have some wing pictures but I'm not how sure how good they are. Mottled ducks or summerducks often live all year long in teh marsh of south La. Very Very Wary and hard to shoot. Hen mallards have a white bar above and below the speculum, the mottled has a faint bar below the speculum and the black duck has none. They are hard to tell apart on the wing so don't be discouraged. Black ducks have green bills and mottled ducks have yellow.

This is the main thing to remember: In mississippi it very very rare to shoot a mottled duck much less three. Everything that flies should be a hen mallard as far as you are concerened.

Jeff you need fourteen more of the bird on the right for a limit

I have a bunch of pictures somewhere if I can find them.

Her you go--these are all black mallards aka. mottled ducks:

Haven't seen too many black ducks and have never seen a mottled duck that I can remember, But one or two of those in that pile look like Black Ducks.

Trust me, they're not.

This has been a question of mine for a long time also.
I see very little difference in a mottled and black duck
I had always just assumed that a mottled duck was another name for a black duck. Even after all this stuff below, i still don't really see a difference other than the Greater tertial coverts.

Adult male black duck
Wing Character
Tertials - Broad; tips often acutely pointed; usually pearly gray-brown colored; no edging to narrow light edging; not frayed or faded
Greater tertial coverts - Broad; often light edging; tips are smoothly arced; not frayed or faded
Middle and lesser secondary coverts - Tips form smoothly rounded arcs; may have light edging or no edging
Greater primary coverts - Four most distal do not have light edging on inner webs
Notch- length - 94% > 281 mm.




Adult Male mottled duck
Wing Character
Tertials - Usually acutely pointed; covert to tertail tip often > 90 mm; lack internal markings
Greater tertial coverts - Broadly rounded; edging varies from broad to narrow
Secondaries - Normally, only one or two are not at least partly iridescent
Notch- length - 81% > 255 mm.

I have seen the two side by side a number of times at a freind of mines taxidermy shop. A true black duck is MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH darker than a mottled duck. In all actuality they aren't that hard to tell in the hand, on the wing that would be a tough one, but fortunatley the habitat range doesn't overlap at all, so it's really not a problem.

I hunt alot in South MS as well as in south louisiana and I shoot just as many mottled ducks in MS as LA. There is also mallards mixed in just have to be careful.In the air a mottled is generally a little bit darker and as for shooting real black ducks I think alot of people are confused. I have shot hen mottled and drake mottled , hen mottled has a greenish bill just like a true black. People rarely shoot what is actually a true black duck.but mistake mottled hens for true blacks.good luck though if you do shoot a true black congrats its a prize b/c they are becoming more and more rare.

Last year I saw 2 different guys with "Katrina displaced" mottled ducks they were getting mounted calling them "black ducks." I quit trying to argue with them.

If you do much huntin on the Coast you're prolly familar. Funny all the "black ducks" kilt along the Coast. Another key marking is the brown/black spot at the base of the bill. Normally see'em as pairs and they're around all year long. "Summer Ducks" called by many. Here's GC's pic of one, nice redhead too...

so they are kind of like a black duck but not really and sort of look like a hen mallard but darker and with a dark spot on the base of the beak? Is that about the size of it? Thanks for all of the input although I am still not sure exactly how to tell the difference. One more question size-wise how do they match up with the more common species?

Very informative site. Like most hunters north of Houma, La. I didn't exactly know what a mottled duck was. Although I have seen some very dark mallards mixed in with the others, I assumed they were black mallards. Now I see they may be mottled. Hope to kill one one day.