It sounds like safer duck habitat here than in Florida-we don’t have pythons, and there are no duck-eating fish in this river-no gators except in East Texas, either. Hawks nest in the woods by the river, and will grab a duck, but they will also grab anything smaller than they are, including domestic fowl that is unprotected-they are very fond of young peafowl, which a lot of people here keep as attractive watchbirds-and they are not overly bright...
We have Muscovy ducks around, but they are mostly the domesticated type, and rather large-even the free range ones-they don’t taste any different than any other duck to me, but I’m not a connoisseur-I only like it cooked on the grill-otherwise, it is greasy...
Pythons aren’t native, but bass will eat ducklings, as will herons. We get hawks every now and then, too. It’s not unusual to see a momma with 16 ducklings show up a couple of days later with half that many.
I imagine that Muscovies in the true wild might taste OK, but the ones that live near people in Florida get into trash and I’ve heard that’s what they taste like.
Farm raised Muscovies are a delicacy. Thomas Jefferson raised them for food.