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Post by nickinthegarden on May 18, 2018 12:08:08 GMT -8
I have read about and viewed photos and art of the Mandarin duck for a number of years. This morning I got to see my first one ever. You bet I am beautiful! by Nick, on Flickr It was hanging with a distant cousins; the Wood duck. It seemed to have paired up with one female but my readings seems to indicate that there will be no little ducklings as a result. Too bad a few more Mandarin Ducks around would be nice to see.
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Post by Gord on May 18, 2018 17:06:14 GMT -8
Nick, a beauty for sure. Wow and nice photo too. I believe at one time there was a feral or deliberate introduction population of these guys that was self-sustaining at Reifel Bird Sanctuary. They didn't last past the 1980's if memory serves correct. I think it's safe to say this guy escaped from a farm and is free flying.
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Post by murraybrown on May 19, 2018 8:21:46 GMT -8
Many centuries ago, when I was just a duckling myself, there was a fairly large flock of Mandarins at Stanley Park's Lost Lagoon in Vancouver. They were found with the Wood Ducks but always separated themselves out according to species much as I've seen American and Eurasian Wigeon do. I'm trying hard to remember the date as I didn't bother to record introduced species and my guess is it was probably in the late 60's or early 70's. And then they were gone!
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Post by expiallyd on Jun 1, 2018 17:25:09 GMT -8
I have a photo of a mandarin at Lost Lagoon; I think it was from the early 80s. It may have just been a later escapee and not part of the breeding population. They seem to have established themselves in London too. I saw a female with about a dozen ducklings on the Regent's Canal there about 5 years ago. They really are a very pretty duck.
Anne
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