Teacher talks about runin with Mandarin duck
RIDLEY PARK >> Last Jan. 12 Brian Quindlen was on his way home to South Philadelphia from a day of bird watching with friends when he got an alert on his cell phone about a Mandarin duck that had taken up residence at Ridley Park Lake.
So Quindlen, an avid “birder” and amateur photographer, made an aboutface and headed for the lake.
“A Mandarin duck isn’t something that comes about very often,” Quindlen explained, adding that a recent sighting of a Mandarin in New York City’s Central Park was still causing a stir among those who know how rare such a sighting is in this part of the world.
Quindlen spotted the rare species hanging out at the lake with a group of Mallard ducks.
“It was very tame and friendly and swam right up to me,” Quindlen recalled. “I took pictures and a video and thank goodness I did because two days later it wasn’t there.”
What happened to the multi-colored Mandarin is anybody’s guess, but one resident said she heard a fox got the duck.
Quindlen said Mandarin ducks are from Asia and any such ducks found in the United States most likely escaped from an owner.
The 31-year-old Quindlen grew up in Malvern and is a fifth-grade teacher at the Bethel Springs Elementary School in the Garnet Valley School District. He said he has been a “birder” since he was a kid. He is a past president of the Birding Club of Delaware County and puts his knowledge of birds to good use for his students.
He runs an after-school bird club and often takes his students out for walks on the nature trail at the school and sponsors the Trail Blazers Club for students in elementary through high school.
He also shares his knowledge about feathered inhabitants of the world we live in with Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts working toward specific merit badges.