Central Park Mandarin Duck
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The Central Park mandarin duck, also known as Mandarin Patinkin or the Hot Duck, is a male
mandarin duck The mandarin duck (''Aix galericulata'') is a perching duck species native to the East Palearctic. It is medium-sized, at long with a wingspan. It is closely related to the North American wood duck, the only other member of the genus ''Aix''. ...
seen at the Pond in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
's
Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
starting in late 2018. Its colorful appearance, which contrasted with native waterfowl, combined with its presence far outside of the species' native range of
East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...
, led to media attention from late 2018 through 2019. Though it has a
band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...
around its leg, its origin is undetermined. Its last sighting was in March 2019. In 2021, entertainer
Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...
published a children's book about it.


Sighting and public attention

The
mandarin duck The mandarin duck (''Aix galericulata'') is a perching duck species native to the East Palearctic. It is medium-sized, at long with a wingspan. It is closely related to the North American wood duck, the only other member of the genus ''Aix''. ...
was first spotted at
Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
's
Pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from th ...
by
birder Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...
Gus Keri in early October 2018. Its appearance was disseminated by another birder, David Barrett, who operates the
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account Manhattan Bird Alert and was described as the duck's "kingmaker" and "de-facto PR spokesman". It quickly became a local celebrity, with the duck and the public's enthusiasm for it receiving national and international coverage, covered by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'',
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
, the ''
People's Daily The ''People's Daily'' () is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The newspaper provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP. In addition to its main Chinese-language ...
'' in China, and making front-page news as far away as the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
''. Several vendors began producing and selling merchandise referencing or depicting the duck, turning it into a tourist attraction. ''The New York Times'' noted that it " adbecome an international celebrity. A living, breathing, quacking meme." The ''Associated Press'' dubbed the crowd following the duck "the quackarazzi". It has also been credited with sparking broader interest in birding in New York. ''
New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'', ...
'' ''The Cut'' initially covered it as "New York's Most Eligible Bachelor" in its Dating section and subsequently called it "Hot Duck", while the website ''
Gothamist Gothamist LLC is the operator, or in some cases franchisor, of eight city-centric websites that focused on news, events, food, culture, and other local coverage. It was founded in 2003 by Jake Dobkin and Jen Chung. In March 2017, Joe Ricketts, ...
'' named it Mandarin Patinkin, after
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
actor
Mandy Patinkin Mandel Bruce Patinkin (; born November 30, 1952) is an American actor and singer, known for his work in musical theatre, television and film. He is a critically acclaimed Broadway performer, having received three Tony Award nominations, winning ...
. Not long after its initial sighting, it disappeared for almost two weeks before returning to the Pond. Whenever the duck was not seen for a period of days or when it was seen somewhere other than Central Park, it received media coverage, such as when it showed up in
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
or
Edgewater, New Jersey Edgewater is a borough located along the Hudson River in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough had a population of 11,513,/nowiki>''sic''/nowiki> Hill Road was an important route to the top ...
. Multiple accounts describe "panic" among birdwatchers during these times. The website ''
Quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
'' set up a website dedicated to tracking whether or not it had been spotted in Central Park that day. Paul Sweet, Collection Manager in the Department of Ornithology at the
American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...
, criticized the enthusiasm for the duck. Though he credited the phenomenon with raising interest in birding, he pointed out the dangers that
exotic species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...
pose to
native species In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equ ...
in general and compared the experience of seeing an escaped duck in Central Park to seeing a bird in a
zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoo ...
: "In British birder parlance, this is a 'plastic' duck, an escaped pet, one that can be bought online. It is not a rare bird or a first record or anything of that nature, so to me, of zero
ornithological Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...
interest." Even within city limits, there are several other mandarin ducks at zoos, according to ''AMNY''. Both Sweet and ''
WNYC WNYC is the trademark and a set of call letters shared by WNYC (AM) and WNYC-FM, a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations located in New York City. WNYC is owned by New York Public Radio (NYPR), a nonprofit organization that di ...
News'' urged redirecting public interest to the many attractive native species found in New York, like the wood ducks which also frequent Central Park. ''
Audubon The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such org ...
'' editor Andrew Del-Colle echoed similar sentiments in an "open letter" to the duck, telling it that it was not " special". Others criticized the behavior of people watching the bird for violating birding ethics by feeding it bread or trying to get it to move to where it could be seen more easily. ''Gothamist'' Jen Carlson likened its public attention to a
cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...
, with its crowd of onlookers by the Central Park Pond " akingon an apocalyptic circus vibe on weekends. Part Audubon field trip, part Burning Man." In other articles, she wrote about some of the reasons it may have become so popular, making a comparison to the role of ducks in ''
The Catcher in the Rye ''The Catcher in the Rye'' is an American novel by J. D. Salinger that was partially published in serial form from 1945–46 before being novelized in 1951. Originally intended for adults, it is often read by adolescents for its themes of angst ...
'', symbolizing "all we have that is good anymore."


Origin

There are small populations of mandarin ducks in the United States formed by escaped or released domestic ducks, but none near New York. Its native range is East Asia. The Central Park duck's origin is unknown, but New York is too far from its natural territories to have simply gotten lost during
migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...
, which accounts for some other rare sightings. Observers quickly noted a
band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...
around its leg suggesting it had been captive. Zoos denied ownership, and the type of band used indicated a private owner from whom it had likely escaped. Nobody stepped forward to claim ownership, perhaps because ducks are illegal to have as pets in the city. Tom Moorman of
Ducks Unlimited Ducks Unlimited (DU) is an American nonprofit organization 501(c) dedicated to the conservation of wetlands and associated upland habitats for waterfowl, other wildlife, and people. It has had a membership of around 700,000 since January 2013. ...
told the ''L.A. Times'' that it likely settled in Central Park because it was already a hotspot for other ducks. The
New York City Parks Department The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...
announced that it would monitor the duck through the 2018–19 winter, and would not try to capture it unless it needed help.


Disappearance

The duck was last seen in Central Park in March 2019, leaving before the species' mating season. Despite false positive sightings and speculation that it would likely return in September, after
molting In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is the manner in which an animal routinely casts off a part of its body (often, but not always, an outer ...
season, it has not been seen . According to Barrett, "Before, even when he ventured to the rivers, our spies found him and posted footage. My best guess was that he flew far enough north to a small pond remote from people."


Children's book

In 2018, entertainer
Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...
and literary critic
Michiko Kakutani Michiko Kakutani (born January 9, 1955) is an American writer and retired literary critic, best known for reviewing books for ''The New York Times'' from 1983 to 2017. In that role, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1998. Early life ...
discussed the duck at a party, when Kakutani shared pictures she had taken of it. Midler was inspired to write a story about the effect the duck was having on people, causing them to look up from their cell phone screens to look at natural beauty. The book was published as ''The Tale of the Mandarin Duck'' in 2021, written by Midler, with photographs by Kakutani and illustrations by Joana Avillez.


See also

*
List of individual birds This is a list of well-known real birds. For famous fictional birds, see list of fictional birds. * Águia Vitória, a bald eagle who serves as the mascot for Portuguese football club S.L. Benfica * Albert Ross, an albatross believed to have been ...


References


External links

* {{Central Park, state=collapsed 2018 in New York City 2019 in New York City Central Park Individual waterfowl Birds in popular culture