Thursday, January 31, 2013

Mandarin

The Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata), or just Mandarin, is a medium-sized, East Asian perching duck, closely related to the North American Wood Duck. It is 41–49 cm long with a 65–75 cm wingspan.

This is the first time I have seen these beautiful, marvelous creatures along the river Po, they look like toys!

The sky was grayish and cloudy, I was hesitated whether or not to visit the river, and I am glad I made this walk....
Some distance further up from the bridge at piazza Vittorio, there were this group of four navigating their way on the river, I followed them till they reached home, the shrubs along the river bank, neighbor with a group of mallards.


鸳鸯, is their chinese name, which is the symbol of loving couples, those who are longing for love often say : 只羡鸳鸯, 不羡仙 (Only envy the mandarin duck, do not envy the gods).

Strange enough, instead of sticking in a couple, I saw this group of 3 males and one female swimming together towards home....

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bellissime foto e bellissime queste anatre.
Bravo Wilf !

Fabrizio Zanelli said...

Unbelievable Wilf !!!! I've never seen them. Really a great capture !!!!

wilf said...

Thanks Fabrizio! They are so cute and lovely...:)

Dianne said...

Hi Wif ... beautiful captures of these quaint ducks .... Yes! they look like toys with hand painted faces. A lovely post.

Julie said...

Wilf, I came to your post of Thursday 31st January directly from the CDP portal. You were indeed captured and linked into the 150 members update.

Linda said...

They are beautiful!

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Their colours are so amazing and you're right Wilf, they do look like toy ducks floating on the water. Lovely series of images.

trett said...

i like these so much ... they seem to be painted on the water. very nice, indeed.