--- Three Similar Ducks ---

Well, the three ducks in question, the female Mallard, the American Black Duck, and the Florida Mottled Duck are all pretty similar. I've been looking at the Mallards and the Black Ducks for years and felt I could tell the difference. Now in Florida, it turns out there is a species that's very similar to both of the above. It makes the differences much smaller.

From the pages of Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, it's easy to see that the three could be easily confused. By the way the www.npwrc.usgs.gov is really an awesome web site. Your tax dollars at work. Be thankful your money is being spent here rather than in some of the many government debacles we hear about every day.

Scroll down and look at the wings from Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center:

Mallard Female

American Black Duck

Florida Mottled Duck

The wings we're interested in are the females. They're reproduced here:
Mallard Female:

American Black Duck Female:

and the Mottled Duck Female:

Now look at the descriptions from the same USGS but this time from the Pautuxet Wildlife thingy: