Mandarin Duck

Description

The Mandarin Duck is a medium-sized perching duck, closely related to the Wood Duck. The adult male is a striking and unmistakable bird. It has a red bill, large white crescent above the eye and reddish face and "whiskers". The breast is purple with two vertical white bars, and the flanks ruddy, with two orange "sails" at the back. The female is far different, muted grey-brown, with a white eye-ring and stripe running back from the eye.

Range & Habitat

Mandarin Ducks are found in the Threshold, along the southern coast of the Inner Sea , and in smaller numbers in the southern and western Blessed Isle. They nest in densely wooded areas near shallow lakes, marshes or ponds.

Breeding

Mandarin ducks nest in cavities in trees close to water. The females lay their eggs in the tree's cavity after mating. Although the male may defend the female during incubation, he himself does not incubate the eggs. Shortly after the ducklings hatch, their mother flies to the ground and coaxes the ducklings to leap from the nest. After all of the ducklings are out of the tree, they will follow their mother to a nearby body of water. Mandarin ducks are monogamous and mate for life.

Diet

Mandarins feed by dabbling or walking on land. They mainly eat plants and seeds, with a particular fondness for acorns and beechnuts, though they will also dine on snails, insects, dew worms, small fish, frogs, mollusks, and sometimes even small snakes. They feed mainly near dawn or dusk, perching in trees or on the ground during the day.

Cultural Significance

Mandarin ducks are named due to the beauty of their plumage being reminiscent of the ornate mandarin squares used to mark rank and title amongst some bureaucracies of cultured scholar-officials, including the Thousand Scales of the Scarlet Empire, where the duck itself is used to represent the bureaucratic rank of First Clerk. Their feathers are sometimes sought to decorate clothing or produce beautiful display trophies (with a few hunts still occurring here and there around Creation), though they are rarely sought for meat.

Mandarin ducks are popular ornamental waterfowl for garden ponds, and are often coaxed to nest on floating platforms in the middle of ponds, elaborately decorated to be reminiscent of palaces. Such artificial abodes are the only way to coax the birds to nest outside a tree.

Because they mate for life, mandarin ducks are held as a symbol of fidelity and conjugal affection, often favoured as imagery for wedding ceremonies. "Two mandarin ducks playing in water" is a metaphor for a loving couple. Because male and female are so different, they are also used as metaphor for love between unlikely pairs, partners who seem starkly different on the surface.