pchunchiu 9/03/2008 17:06
Male Mandarin Duck in Tai Sang Wai
A male Mandarin Duck was found in a fish pond in Tai Sang Wai today (09Mar08). It was swimming initially but it flied to the edge of the pond after seeing us. I walked towards to duck along the edge where some longan trees could hide me quite well. I managed to take some pics of it but the quality is very bad. It then flied to the far side of the fish pond once spotting me taking pics.
I have no experience on judging the origin of birds. I'm sorry that we couldn't see its legs very well if there is any thread tying them. May some experts help for identifying please?
[img]http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x112/chiujai113/MandarinDuck01.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x112/chiujai113/MandarinDuck02.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x112/chiujai113/IMG_7697.jpg[/img]
The location of the bird is around here:
[img]http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x112/chiujai113/Location.jpg[/img]
sammysam 10/03/2008 01:17
On 2008-03-09, I saw it there at the morning time.
[img]http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l231/kcsam/2008-03-09_1136.jpg[/img]
kmatthew 10/03/2008 04:35
possible wild bird record?? :?: sounds like it is really afraid of people...
ajohn 10/03/2008 11:47
I have seen 3 mandarins (one male, 2 females) around the Sha Po/Kam Tin area a couple of times this winter. I believe there has also been a sighting near Nam Sang Wai.
I suspect that all these records (including the Tai Sang Wai record) relate to the same birds, which are travelling around the area.
The birds appear to be unringed, but due to the number of individuals and long stay, I don't think they are wild. In fact, I think they are probably the same as the pair that was present at Kam Tin last winter and the elastic on the legs has fallen off. That leaves me with three questions though:
How did they lose the rings?
Where were they last summer? (in HK or elsewhere)
And, most importantly, where did the third bird come from?