Most people in New York when asked to picture a duck, they’re thinking of an eastern mallard duck (Anas platyrhynchos) – the green head, the quack, the pond. But just 90-100 years ago, mallards were not known to breed in New York State. Since the ban of live decoys in the 1930s, mallards have been released and taken over as the preeminent duck of the northern Atlantic Flyway.
After all-time highs in the early 2000s however, we have seen significant declines in eastern mallards.
Eastern mallard populations in the Atlantic Flyway are now in a steady, long-term decline, with breeding numbers in the Northeast decreasing by about 1% annually over the last two decades.
Causes include habitat loss, high rates of hunting (despite stricter limits in 2019) and perhaps most significantly, the fact that over 90% of the population are hybrids of released, farm-raised birds with less productive breeding behaviors.
Most mallards hunted in the East and Southeast are born in the Northeast, another quarter come from eastern Canada. The total eastern mallard population declined by 20 percent between 1998 and 2021, driven by a staggering 38 percent drop in the Northeast breeding population.
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and 21 other partner agencies and NGOs are working to better understand these declines. DEC has deployed over 2,500 transmitters and geolocators to understand individual and population success.
Josh Stiller coordinates the statewide migratory and upland game bird program for the DEC. His duties involve not only working with biologists within the state on bird issues, but also biologists from all over North America as migratory birds are a shared resource with other states and other countries.
Still will be discussing eastern mallard research during a free public virtual talk on February 12, 2026 at 7 pm. The event is sponsored by UCALL and the Kelly Adirondack Center.
Read more about ducks in New York State or just about mallards.
Photo of a drake (male) mallard duck in flight in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, by Wikimedia user Dennis G. Jarvis.
Source link
