Manipur: Rarely spotted Mandarin duck sighted at Lamphelpat

Imphal, Feb 15: A group of wildlife photographers spotted Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata)-a colourful migratory duck from east Asia at Manipur’s Lamphelpat wetland near here. 

The lone male Mandarin Duck locally called 'Sana manbi nganu' was spotted around 8am on February 11, says a photographer who was part of the team.

According to experts,this waterbird doesn’t usually visit India and it is found in East Asia.Some claim the duck was last reported from Assam (India) on February 2,2021.

On hearing the news of sighting the waterbird which is considered as the most beautiful duck in the world, state’s renown environmentalist Dr Khangembam Shamungou expressed his happiness.

He said one such duck was once caught at Sugnu in 1997 and the bird was kept in captivity at Manipur Zoological Garden.

According to a 2014 paper by researchers Raju Kasambe (Bombay Natural Historical society) and RK Birjit (Centre for conservation of nature & cultivation of science) in Manipur, “There are handful of records, mostly historical, of this species from northeastern India. C Gimson and Capt WL Neal had shot two males and two females of Mandarin Ducks in a stream in Mayangkhang valley,Manipur at an altitude of about 3500 feet(=1050m) on 03 March 1934(Gimson 1934).”

Meanwhile sharing a photograph of the duck in a Facebook post on Monday, wildlife photographer Premjit Elangbam wrote, “One male was seen & photographed in Jawa Lamjao, Toubul near Loktak on 11 December, 2013 during Important Bird Areas Survey jointly conducted by BNHS & Manipur Forest Dept while another one caught at Wangoo Naodakhong near Ithai Barrage in 2021 by local fishermen and at present it is in captivity in Manipur Zoological Garden.”

However, a lone Mandarin duck each was also reported from eastern Assam and Tripura while three others in Arunachal Pradesh’s Dirang valley this winter, according to Dr Anwaruddin Choudhury, a retired bureaucrat and naturalist in Assam.

“The frequency of sighting these ducks has slightly increased in the recent past," he felt.