Coastal Louisiana's Winter Mallard Count Dropped 79% While Ring-Necks Averaged 58% More

ICoastal Mallards

Winter Surveys Counted 79% Fewer Mallards Along the Coast

Coastal era figures average LDWF's combined southwest and southeast estimates over December, January and February flights while later zone and month comparisons use the 14 December and January flights from 2019-20 through 2025-26. We call that the average per winter survey. Flights covered both zones every winter, and estimates are rounded to the nearest 1,000. The early years include 13 of those flights and the recent years include 14. LDWF's survey reports supply the estimates, including the December 2011 survey and the January 2026 survey.

This decline goes beyond one bad year. Six of the seven recent winters had fewer coastal mallards than the lowest early winter, which counted 59,000 in 2008-09 on a single January flight. Only 2019-20 broke that pattern at 70,000. In 2025-26 the winter average was 8,000 coastal mallards, the lowest in the series in our files going back to 2004-05. In the January 2025 survey LDWF said that "Record low January estimates for mallard, mottled duck, and gadwall were observed".

IIPuddle Ducks

Gadwall Dropped 48% but Stayed First as Divers Rose 71%

Since 2004-05 gadwall and green-winged teal have outnumbered mallards on coastal flights in every era. Gadwall led the duck count in both the early and recent years. Their average per winter survey dropped 48% from 771,000 to 402,000. Wigeon dropped 70%, mottled ducks fell 66% and green-winged teal fell 27%. Dabblers together dropped 36%. In the December 2022 survey LDWF said that "This survey marks a December low for mallard and wigeon".

Divers went in the other direction. Ring-necked ducks increased 58% from 193,000 to 304,000 per winter survey. Scaup increased 74% and canvasbacks rose from 19,000 to 56,000. Divers together increased 71%.

That increase looks different with the middle years included. Ring-necks had an average of 462,000 per winter survey from 2011-12 through 2018-19, well above their recent level. In 2025-26 ring-necked ducks on the coast averaged just 72,000 per winter survey. Mallards did not show the same middle-years rise. Their coastal average dropped from 145,000 in the early years to 96,000 in the middle years and 30,000 in the recent years, though individual winters swung.

Taken together all ducks on the coast dropped 23%, from about 2.4 million to 1.84 million per winter survey. The season table lays out how sharply coastal estimates swing between winters.

IIIZone Split

Southwest Had Most Puddle Ducks and Southeast Had Most Divers

Different ducks use the two coastal zones. In the 14 December and January flights from 2019-20 through 2025-26, the southwest zone had 66% of all coastal ducks, 90% of the mallards and 75% of the dabblers. The southwest counted more dabblers, gadwall and green-winged teal than the southeast in all 7 of those winters. Mottled ducks broke the puddle-duck pattern at 13,000 in the southeast compared with 11,000 in the southwest. More divers were in the east. The southeast held 59% of the divers, with 58% of the ring-necks and 77% of the canvasbacks. Its diver count topped the southwest in 6 of the 7 winters.

Over the whole coast the January flight counted more divers than December in 6 of those 7 winters, with more scaup and green-winged teal in 6 too. The southwest supplied most of that January increase, with divers averaging 116,000 on December flights and 293,000 on January flights. January topped December there in all 7 winters. Southeast diver counts rose from 262,000 to 331,000, with January topping December in only 4 of 7. The southeast counted more divers than the southwest in 6 of 7 winters on December flights and in 6 of 7 on January flights. The December flight counted more gadwall coast-wide in 5 of the 7 winters.

IVLake Zone

Catahoula Lake Zone Changed Names as Its Duck Count Fell a Third

Only recent reports use the name Little River Basin, making it seem like a new zone. LDWF's January 2023 survey calls it "Little River Basin (formerly Catahoula Lake)". The lake zone therefore spans the whole series under two names, though LDWF does not say whether the footprint stayed the same. We left it out of the coastal figures and compared the zone with itself.

The lake zone also lost ducks, including ring-necks. Mallards there dropped from 7,000 to 1,000 per winter survey and ring-necks dropped from 31,000 to 20,000. All ducks dropped from 116,000 to 78,000. Canvasbacks fell only from 42,000 to 37,000.

LDWF's printed totals include the lake zone with the coast and show the same pattern. In those totals mallards dropped 80% and all ducks fell 23%, while ring-necks increased 45%.

VFlight Coverage

Flights Estimate Ducks on the Water Without Explaining Why

The estimates cover ducks on the water when survey flights took place. They are neither harvest counts nor flyway totals. Each winter is based on one or two December to February flights, so a cold snap or warm week can move a winter's count up or down. The era averages use flights, so a winter with two flights counts twice. The coastal zones sit below U.S. Highway 90 and exclude the rice and timber of northeast Louisiana, which LDWF surveys separately. Cells printed by the agency as under 1,000 are counted as zero here. The January 2014 and January 2015 flights took place in early February and are counted as winter flights. Our record has no date for the January 2026 table, so we placed it by its file name. These numbers do not explain why mallards fell.

VIHunt Planning

Build Coastal Louisiana Hunts Around Gadwall, Teal and Divers

Our rule is to build a coastal Louisiana hunt around gadwall, green-winged teal and divers. A puddle-duck hunt fits the southwest zone, where December flights have counted more gadwall. A diver hunt points toward the southeast zone in December or January, though diver counts swing hard between winters. Read the latest LDWF report before booking, and do not make greenheads the focus of a coastal trip.