ohh my god i found a beautiful bird for today's bird!! today's bird is the mandarin duck!!!!! instantly recognizable, the male is distinguished by the unique shape and color of his wings. the female is duller in color ; she has an overall gray appearance with a curved white band behind the eye and white spots on her underparts. the male loses his brilliant plumage after the breeding season (towards the end of spring), taking on an appearance more similar to the female, to the point that it can be difficult to tell them apart. the mandarin duck's diet varies according to the seasons. in autumn and winter, it mainly eats acorns and seeds. in spring, it feeds primarily on insects, snails, fish, and aquatic plants. in summer, it feeds mainly on worms, small fish, frogs, mollusks, and small snakes. the mandarin duck lives in forested areas that include bodies of water. although widespread in east asia, it is an endangered species due to the destruction of its natural habitat, the forest. in 1980, japan ordered 3,000 pairs of mandarin ducks from the netherlands to repopulate the lakes in its territory. (can we talk about the fact that now there is so much AI pictures on pinterest😧. i STRUGGLED to find a mandarin duck picture that's not AI bro..)