![]() ![]() They feed mainly near dawn or dusk, perching in trees or on the ground during the day. In the summer, they eat dew worms, small fish, frogs, mollusks, and small snakes. In the spring, they mostly eat insects, snails, fish and aquatic plants. The diet of mandarin ducks changes seasonally in the fall and winter, they mostly eat acorns and grains. The species will also add snails, insects and small fish to its diet. They mainly eat plants and seeds, especially beech mast. Mandarins feed by dabbling or walking on land. In its introduced European range, it lives in more open habitat than in its native range, around the edges lakes, water meadows, and cultivated areas with woods nearby. While it prefers freshwater, it may also be seen wintering in coastal lagoons and estuaries. In winter, it additionally occurs in marshes, flooded fields, and open rivers. It mostly occurs in low-lying areas, but it may breed in valleys at altitudes of up to 1,500 m (4,900 ft). The habitats it prefers in its breeding range are the dense, shrubby forested edges of rivers and lakes. This population is the result of several mandarin ducks escaping from captivity, then going on to reproduce in the wild. The town of Black Mountain, North Carolina has a limited population, and there is a free-flying feral population of several hundred mandarins in Sonoma County, California. Isolated populations exist in the United States. There are now about 7,000 in Britain, and other populations on the European continent, the largest in the region of Berlin. Specimens frequently escape from collections, and in the 20th century a large feral population was established in Great Britain more recently small numbers have bred in Ireland, concentrated in the parks of Dublin. The Asian populations are migratory, overwintering in lowland eastern China and southern Japan. The species was once widespread in East Asia, but large-scale exports and the destruction of its forest habitat have reduced populations in eastern Russia and in China to below 1,000 pairs in each country Japan, however, is thought to still hold some 5,000 pairs. The native range of the mandarin duck, and parts of its introduced range where it is established breedingīreeding Native resident Migrant Winter visitor Introduced resident Although the origin of this mutation is unknown, it is presumed that the constant pairing of related birds and selective breeding led to recessive gene combinations leading to genetic conditions including leucism. The most common is the white mandarin duck. There are various mutations of the mandarin duck found in captivity. The ducklings can be distinguished from mallard ducklings because the eye-stripe of mandarin ducklings (and wood ducklings) stops at the eye, while in mallard ducklings it reaches all the way to the bill. Mandarin ducklings are almost identical in appearance to wood ducklings, and very similar to mallard ducklings. When in eclipse plumage, the male looks similar to the female, but can be told apart by its bright yellow-orange or red beak, lack of any crest, and a less-pronounced eye-stripe. ![]() Like many other species of ducks, the male undergoes a moult after the mating season into eclipse plumage. ![]() Both the males and females have crests, but the purple crest is more pronounced on the male. ![]()
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