Ducks, Geese, & Birds - Wildlife Management Pro

Ducks Found in the Highland Lakes of Central Texas

Ducks abound in the Highland Lakes area, and are found, basically, in two varieties — the puddle duck and the diving duck. According to Derrick Wolter, wildlife biologist with Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, the puddle duck species include mallard, gadwall, wigeon, blue-winged teal, green-winged teal, shovelers, and pintail. Diving ducks include ring-necked, lesser scaup, greater scaup, canvasback, redheads, and buffleheads.

Probably the best known of the puddle ducks in this area are the mallards, pintails, blue-winged teal, and green-winged teal. Puddle ducks are so named because of their feeding habits. These waterfowl prefer to dine on submerged vegetation in shallow puddles or along the shores of lakes and rivers in water no deeper than about 12-inches.

Puddle ducks feeding in shallow water

Their diet, in addition, includes lots of seeds — from corn, wheat, bulrushes, wild rice, primrose, willow, water elm, oak, hackberry and other trees along streams. And they also dine on mollusks, insects, small fish, tadpoles, freshwater snails, and fish eggs. Continue reading Ducks Found in the Highland Lakes of Central Texas

Llano Eagle Nest Still Going Strong

This year, the famous eagles’ nest east of Llano has lost one of its adult eagles. However, since there were three adults tending the nest for the past several years, life goes on for the others. A male and female adult pair already have laid eggs in the nest, which sits in a large native pecan tree right on the banks of the Llano River.

In fact, one of the eggs probably already has hatched, a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologist said, and the eagles are on their way to another successful nesting season. “The way the adults have been acting, with lots of activity and looking down into the nest, I think one of them has been hatched,” said TPWD wildlife biologist Dale Schmidt of Llano.

“I drive by there every day and there’s been a big difference in the activity in the nest.”

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Duck Hunting Drives Land Values Higher

How many duck hunting camps are there are around Greenwood? “Hundreds,” Henry Flautt says. He then explains to how duck hunting has driven land values around the Delta to record levels. “It’s unbelievable.”

It wasn’t always that way. We are sitting in a duck blind that Kenneth Thompson’s family bought for 50 cents an acre in the 1930s so their son could have a place to hunt. The land had been cut over and nobody wanted to pay the taxes on it. So it sold for pennies at a tax sale.

Fast forward to present day and currently the land is worth thousands of dollars an acre – simply as a place to hunt teal, gadwall, and mallard. Heirs of Atlanta’s Cox family just purchased thousands of acres in Carroll County. The Gaylord’s, Oklahoma City’s publishing family, recently purchased a huge tract of Delta land. Their sole purpose: to hunt ducks. Continue reading Duck Hunting Drives Land Values Higher

Green-winged Teal Photos and Information

Green-winged Teal Photos and Information
Green-winged teal are the smallest of the puddle ducks in the Central Flyway. They have a length 13-16 inches and have an average weight of ½ to 1 pound.The drake (male) is beautifully colored with a dark, reddish-brown head, a green streak over the eye, and a vertical white stripe on the side. The female is primarily brown. The speculum shows green in both sexes. Green-winged teal fly swiftly, often in small, tight flocks. Drakes whistle and have a tittering call; hens sound a faint quack.

Green-winged drake – Click for larger view

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Northern Pintail Photos and Information

The Northern pintail, commonly referred to as pintail, has a body-length of 20-29 inches and averages 1.9-2.3-pounds. Drakes are also called “sprigs.” Pintail are among the most beautifully marked of all the ducks.

A pintail male in breeding plumage has a brown head, white neck and breast, and a gray back and sides. Females are grayish brown and are typically the most mis-identified duck of all the ducks harvested in the central flyway of the United States. Typically, novice birders and hunters think pintail hens are gadwall. The speculum is metallic greenish-brown with a white rear border. But far more noticeable in flight is the male’s long, slender, pointed tail. Pintails are extremely graceful and fast fliers, fond of zig-zagging from great heights before leveling off to land. Voice: the drake has a flute-like whistle, the hen a soft quack.

Click photos for larger view

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All About Gadwall

Gadwall are 19-23 inches inches in length and average 1.8-2.2 pounds in weight. Sometimes referred to as “gray ducks.” Male gadwall in breeding plumage have brown heads, gray bodies and black tails. The female is similar, but more brown in color. The legs are yellow. This is the only puddle duck with white in its speculum. The drake whistles and sounds a kack-kock; the hen quacks like a mallard, but more rapidly and higher pitched. Continue reading All About Gadwall

All About Puddle Ducks in the Central Flyway

Puddle ducks, also called dabbling ducks, are the largest and most widespread group of waterfowl in the world! They include the wild ducks most familiar to people. The two major duck groups, puddle and diving ducks, differ in several ways.

Divers inhabit large deep lakes and rivers, and coastal bays and inlets; puddle ducks tend to stick to the shallows of lakes, rivers and freshwater marshes, although they frequent saltwater, especially during migration. Diving ducks are, as their name implies, adept at diving and obtain most of their food this way. Puddle ducks, such as mallards and gadwall, prefer to feed on the surface or close to it; often they stretch their heads underwater, feeding upended with their tails in the air. As a group, they are not accomplished divers, but adults dive occasionally and ducklings do so frequently. Continue reading All About Puddle Ducks in the Central Flyway