{"id":36821,"date":"2014-05-20T06:30:44","date_gmt":"2014-05-20T11:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=36821"},"modified":"2014-05-19T18:02:44","modified_gmt":"2014-05-19T23:02:44","slug":"in-texas-less-a-duck-dynasty-than-a-duck-dilemma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2014\/05\/20\/in-texas-less-a-duck-dynasty-than-a-duck-dilemma\/","title":{"rendered":"In Texas, Less a Duck Dynasty than a Duck Dilemma"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mottled

Courtesy Bob Woods<\/p>

Mottled ducks in pond at Brazoria National WIldlife Refuge in Brazoria County<\/p><\/div>\n

It can be tough being a duck these days in Texas. Next door in Louisiana, they’ve got cable TV’s big reality hit, Duck Dynasty. But in Texas, there’s less a dynasty and more of a dilemma, at least for\u00a0 one breed called the Mottled Duck.<\/p>\n

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“If you look at the composite of things they all suggest that in Texas, mottled ducks are declining,” said Bart Ballard. “Louisiana seems to be stable.”<\/p>\n

Ballard is a scientist at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute<\/a> at Texas A&M-Kingsville. He said estimating duck populations can be tricky. But according to a 2009 report <\/a>for the U.S. Geological Survey, an analysis off data from 2005-2009 suggested “a rapidly declining mottled duck population” in Texas.<\/p>\n