![]() It is not a rare bird or a first record or anything of that nature, so to me, of zero ornithological interest." Even within city limits, there are several other mandarin ducks at zoos, according to AMNY. Though he credited the phenomenon with raising interest in birding, he pointed out the dangers that exotic species pose to native species in general and compared the experience of seeing an escaped duck in Central Park to seeing a bird in a zoo: "In British birder parlance, this is a 'plastic' duck, an escaped pet, one that can be bought online. Paul Sweet, Collection Manager in the Department of Ornithology at the American Museum of Natural History, criticized the enthusiasm for the duck. The website Quartz set up a website dedicated to tracking whether or not it had been spotted in Central Park that day. Multiple accounts describe "panic" among birdwatchers during these times. 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 or Edgewater, New Jersey. Not long after its initial sighting, it disappeared for almost two weeks before returning to the Pond. Ī crowd of people gathered to watch the duck in November 2018 ![]() ![]() New York Magazine 's 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 named it Mandarin Patinkin, after Broadway actor Mandy Patinkin. It has also been credited with sparking broader interest in birding in New York. A living, breathing, quacking meme." The Associated Press dubbed the crowd following the duck "the quackarazzi". The New York Times noted that it " become an international celebrity. Several vendors began producing and selling merchandise referencing or depicting the duck, turning it into a tourist attraction. 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, The New York Times, The Guardian, CNN, the People's Daily in China, and making front-page news as far away as the Los Angeles Times. Its appearance was disseminated by another birder, David Barrett, who operates the Twitter account Manhattan Bird Alert and was described as the duck's "kingmaker" and "de-facto PR spokesman". The mandarin duck was first spotted at Central Park's Pond by birder Gus Keri in early October 2018. The film had its world premiere at the 2023 Coney Island Film Festival. ![]() In 2023, filmmaker Kevin Schreck released a short documentary about the bird, The Duck of New York. ![]() In 2021, entertainer Bette Midler published a children's book about it. Though it has a band around its leg, its origin is undetermined. Its colorful appearance, which contrasted with native waterfowl, combined with its presence far outside of the species' native range of East Asia, led to media attention from late 2018 through 2019. The Central Park mandarin duck, also known as Mandarin Patinkin or the Hot Duck, is a male mandarin duck seen at the Pond in New York City's Central Park starting in late 2018. The mandarin duck in Central Park in November 2018 ![]()
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