Mr. Popularity

This Mandarin Duck has been up in Milwaukee for a few weeks and I finally decided to go up and shoot it. The bird has been hanging out with about 25 Mallards and is the boss bird in the group. It was tough to get him in the open so I decided to go for a few head shots. To get a nice background I laid on the ground and waited for the bird to approach. I’ve got many nice shots but I like this one which had the bird flaring his cheek feathers. Even though it’s likely an escapee it certainly was fun to watch its behavior and interaction with other birds. A bird like this certainly sparks interest and the imagination of all who see it.