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The mandarin duck does not belong to the group of our native species. Taking so many photos of this colorful bird in our country is perhaps possible only in the Royal Lazienki Gardens in Warsaw. Although they are fed in winter, and the hosts of the park do not let water freeze, the ducks are free and half-wild. An interesting thing is that the mandarin duck is an arboreal duck. This means that it nests in tree hollows, sometimes at the height of a dozen plus meters. This is significant as the young in less than one day after hatching must jump from such a great height and get to water to have their first meal. It’s the mother duck that strongly urges them to perform this first and seemingly daredevil jump. Mandarin ducks reportedly came to Łazienki Park all by themselves, and their population is still increasing. They are undoubtedly a true adornment of our parks, although their natural place of occurrence is Eastern Asia (China and Japan). The mandarin duck is a medium-sized duck. It has a weight of about 0.5 kg, and a wingspan of about 70 cm.
Last minute news - February 2013
In February this year, being on a winter walk in the New Zoo in Poznań, I had the pleasure to observe couple of Mandarin Ducks in the biggest pond of the garden, on the unfrozen part. Therefore, the first commentary to this species got a little old and the invasion of the new species progresses. In my opinion, it's a shame, that it takes so long. As there is no other duck in the world which would be so colorful and its behavior and size do not indicate that it could have any radical influence on our ecosystem. I think it will turn out as with Common Kingfishers. If there are severe winters which cause the waters to freeze then a significant part of the species can not survive in them. All hope then lies in the big city parks, zoos, where preventing the ponds from freezing and feeding will guarantee their survival. It is interesting that although the winter isn't severe, there was a White-tailed Eagle flying aroung tens of meters above my head and Grey Herons, Tufted Ducks and Eurasian Coots were in the pond. Such a predator in almost urban area is quite unusual, especially, that Warta and many neighbouring lakes were not frozen. Is that a sign of the assimilation of the species?
Last minute news 10/2013
Autumn visit to Łazienki Park (Warsaw's Royal Baths) resulted in creating the gallery of a new species on my website – the Wood Duck and in rebuilding the existing gallery of the Mandarin Duck. First photos of the duck were taken in winter 2012. I came back after almost a year and I noticed some changes. The first was that the mandarins were more daring and the whole flock was coming up to people. The second, that their number increased. Who knows, if the conditions suit them so that it is no problem for them to raise their offspring without any interference, they will become a decoration of the park not only in Warsaw Royal Baths but also on other water bodies. I think that there is a slow progress in their expansion. In winter 2012 when I was in the ZOO in Poznan I saw a couple of mandarins on a large external reservoirs. On one of them water was not frozen and there I saw the Mandarin Ducks. For sure I'll check if they are there in winter 2013/14. Anyway, the autumn light conditions, golden color of environment had impact on creating a number of portraits of these beautiful filigree ducks, that were added to my gallery. This time there were so many ducks that it was difficult to find clear frame. Mandarins due to their coloration, behavior, belong to the species to which we are happy to return in the open air sessions. The same applies to me, and since finding them in the Warsaw’s park is no problem at all, the gallery will be developing. Who knows, maybe the next pictures will show the population from Wielkopolska.
Last-minute news - 03/2015
Like I wrote in my previous comments, I’m always willing to visit the Royal Łazienki in Warsaw when I have an opportunity and when lighting conditions are favorable. This time I wanted to record the voice of Mandarin ducks. A few dozen pictures along with the sound of a given bird is a standard which I would like to achieve in my galleries. In such a case the presentation of a given species is complete and there is no need to go back to it. Speaking of Mandarin ducks, regrettably they did not make sounds very often, but when they did, they were not very loud which made me unable to make a recording of a good quality. Regardless of all the charm and beauty of the royal park, acoustically the place is quite complicated. Numerous sounds present at the background (the sounds of the city and sounds of some other birds) make it difficult to record a clear track. Therefore I had a lot to do in order to “clean” the recording, including loud water splash sounds, caused by some males of the Mandarin duck chasing one another. The recording itself might not be impressive, but it makes my Mandarin gallery complete.
Last minute news - 11/2019
Another meeting in Warsaw- Łazienki with Mandarins Ducks resulted in the creation of several dynamic photos of these birds, which I added to the gallery.
Last minute news – 12/2020
You can always count on mandarin ducks during autumn in the park in Łazienki. It was the same this time and there were changes in the gallery.
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