Wednesday, 3 February 2010

Has anyone lost a Mandarin?

When I went to the supermarket earlier today, I had the surprise to find on the foreshore this duck. A pretty little thing really, a female Wood Duck I am pretty sure. EDIT: it's a Mandarin... Not a bird I encounter every day on the Thames...






It was associating with the few Mallards around, but seemed rather lost. I heard her calling at one point.


She was also very skittish, always swimming away when she could see me above the parapet It stood at some point on the leaf litter and I couldn't see any ring, but I didn't have much time for it as she quickly ran away back to the water.
Looking at some of the photos, could her right wing be clipped?





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2 comments:

  1. Andrew3 February 2010 at 20:30

    There don't seem to be any right hand primaries at all do there... Still a nice surprise on the Thames though :-)

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  2. Mark Fellowes4 February 2010 at 19:27

    I think that mandarins and wood duck go to show that not all escapes are bad! Definitely looks clipped...

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