Central Park Mandarin Duck

About

Central Park Mandarin Duck refers to a rare bird seen in Central Park in Manhattan, New York City, that captured the attention of internet users in the Autumn of 2018.

Origin

On October 10th, 2018, the @BirdCentralPark Twitter account posted a video of a Mandarin duck seen in Central Park.

Spread

On October 11th, 2018, Gothamist^[1] posted about the bird, explaining that while there are some isolated populations of the bird in the United States, it is most populous in East Asia and not native to New York City. Furthermore, a band on its leg suggested the bird had escaped some kind of captivity, though it is confirmed to not be from a local zoo.^[2] The duck became a sensation in New York City, as New Yorkers lined up in Central Park to try and photograph the duck. It was covered by The New York Times.^[3]

In early November, the duck went missing, though it was unclear if the duck had simply migrated or people couldn't find it.^[4] It has also been spotted in New Jersey, making people think it splits its time between both areas.^[5]

On November 27th, 2018, @BirdCentralPark posted a tweet with a photograph by @philmcgrew about how the duck would "chase down and nip at" other ducks if they invaded his space or otherwise annoyed it.

The photo led to jokes on Twitter referencing numerous memes. For example, Twitter user @itgetsbedder tweets "I only have two moods" with screenshots of both ducks, gaining 1,000 retweets (shown below, left). User @annalikestweets posted he attacc about the picture (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References