Dear Bill and Erin,

on the 29th you wrote:
>This morning, one of the wood ducks looked more than a little bit
>different. Upon looking closer, we identified a pair of MANDARIN DUCKS!!
>They fly, hence are not pinioned, and are unlikely to be escapes from
>someone's collection. Are these strays from Asia? :-) :-)

A couple of years ago while doing my Wednesday morning Green Lake (Seattle)
census, I came across a duck at the lake's north end I was unfamiliar with. It
was happily preening away, resting among the local Mallards. I noted all field
marks and looked it up when I got home.

It turned out to be a female Ringed Teal (Calonetta leucophrys, a South
American species). I called up Chas Pillings, who breeds water fowl on a pond
ten blocks north of the lake and it turned out to be one of his birds (the
bird was not banded, which surprised me). Chas told me she regularly left with
Mallards visiting his pond to take some of the morning grub hand-out, but
always returned. I've never seen that species again at Green Lake.

So, your Mandarin Ducks could easily belong to someone in your "general" area.
Not all captive birds are pinioned.

Still, Mandarin Ducks, outside your kitchen window, beautiful!

Martin Muller, Seattle
MartinMuller at msn.com