Mandarin Duck in the Snow

[MEGHAN]

All I can say is this is one of the most beautiful birds I have every seen. He is a stunning duck and photos do not do him justice.

[anatum]

All I can say is this is one of the most beautiful birds I have every seen. He is a stunning duck and photos do not do him justice.
#3 is doing a lot of justice. An escapee or on a farm somewhere?

[bronco]

Wonderful images - #4 is my pick.

[lovemypt]

some nice shots Megan...... by chance you weren't the crazy female photographer trying to catch him where you??        

[MEGHAN]

Thanks Gents!

No Dave, if I was trying to catch him he would be swimming around in my hot tub right now.  
Toronto Wildlife services felt the bird needed rescuing. He looked very healthy and in great shape yesterday. Flying, preening, eating and putting the boots to any Mallard that gets too close.So it is a shame they have stepped in. But they still felt he must be captured and "relocated"
They could have grabbed him a few times as he was feeding at their feet, but after a while he smartened up and did a great job of avoiding them.
Mind you they did not put in much of an effort. Just fed him 5 pounds of food and fluttered a blanket around every once in a while. After they gave up trying to catch him, the lady from TWS and her"crazy female photographer" volunteer helper decided to spend a fair amount of time taking pictures of the bird they were there to supposedly save.
I guess even when a bird is "freezing to death and under great stress" even those folks will stop and take a thousand pictures of him.
It was not a smart way to promote the good things TWS does.
As for location...he is at Lynde Shores. Wasn't there this morning, but may still be around. Unless TWS managed to grab him.

[Canoncan]

Let's remember that this was not an official representation of TWS, if this was an official it would have been the conservation officer involved as Lynde Shores is a Lake Ontario Conservation area. This was an employees talked into action by an individual with no authority or experience period. Based on their actions going from physical capture to photo capture shows their knowledge and respect for conservation . Thankful someone showed up to use common sense. Again I hear the bird is back this afternoon (Sunday) and looking well.

[MEGHAN]

Let's remember that this was not an official representation of TWS, if this was an official it would have been the conservation officer involved as Lynde Shores is a Lake Ontario Conservation area. This was an employees talked into action by an individual with no authority or experience period. Based on their actions going from physical capture to photo capture shows their knowledge and respect for conservation . Thankful someone showed up to use common sense. Again I hear the bird is back this afternoon (Sunday) and looking well.

Thanks Canoncan,

I appreciate your post. Glad others, such as yourself, understand what was going on yesterday. That is why I said it was a big misrepresentation of all the good TWS has done in the past and will continue to do.
Yes, the bird is back there now. In the falling snow he must be gorgeous.  

[Rob'in'To]

Beautiful bird and I hope he does well through the next while.  He'd be neat to see even if he is an escapee.  Great pics, thanks for sharing Meghan!

I'm envisioning the people, whoever they were, involved in trying to capture him.  Kinda comical but not cool to just stress the s**t out of the duck, give up and then take in a photo op.  I first read the attempted net capturing on Ontbirds.

[Rotarran]

Thanks for the great pics Meghan.  When I showed up this morning, the bird wasn't there but I stuck around for a bit and surely enough he returned.  I didn't know that there were efforts to try to capture/rescue it.  Doesn't seem to need it...it seems to survive the cold well enough and it picked a great spot with the open water and plenty of food from people.  So far it seems to have made great decisions that help it survive.

Well in any case it's a truly spectacular bird.

[MEGHAN]

Beautiful bird and I hope he does well through the next while.  He'd be neat to see even if he is an escapee.  Great pics, thanks for sharing Meghan!

I'm envisioning the people, whoever they were, involved in trying to capture him.  Kinda comical but not cool to just stress the s**t out of the duck, give up and then take in a photo op.  I first read the attempted net capturing on Ontbirds.

Thanks Rob,
I think he will do just fine. I do not know where he came from, but yes, he is so cool to see.

Thanks for the great pics Meghan. When I showed up this morning, the bird wasn't there but I stuck around for a bit and surely enough he returned. I didn't know that there were efforts to try to capture/rescue it. Doesn't seem to need it...it seems to survive the cold well enough and it picked a great spot with the open water and plenty of food from people. So far it seems to have made great decisions that help it survive.

Well in any case it's a truly spectacular bird.

Lucky you to have seen him as well. Good thing you stuck around.That does seem to be his pattern. He is not around first thing in the morning but shows up later on. Finally, a bird that will let us sleep in  
He's in a great spot that is for sure. I am happy to see others agree he is doing good.
If anyone wants to take something for him, he loves dried corn!

Thanks to both of you for the comments.

[BoboBird]

Excellent shots Meghan.

As for the attempted captures - if the people there ask what and where their authority to do so comes from, they will (should) refrain from doing anything.

He may not be an escapee. Otherwise he would be coming up for food, he does not. The way he keeps his distance from people suggests that he is not domesticated.

My understanding is that there are isolated populations further South and it is entirely possible one just lost his way and turned up here.

Edit - last para removed. Perhaps a bit over the top for here.

[thouc]

Mandarin Duck is not included in the ABA Checklist, so they are considered escapees in North America. There is an established population in the UK.

[Andygod]

The duck was still there this morning, there were a few people taking pictures, but he didn't appear to be hungry.  All the other ducks were begging for food but he was happily relaxing on the ice.

[MEGHAN]

Thanks Bobo and Thomas for your comments.
Andy, thanks for posting an update.
He is still there and still doing very well.

Meghan