When it became clear that the World2 Tour would need to include a Pandemic Pause, I had hopes that before that began I would have made it far enough east that I would be able to hunker down in some less-populated area, where, at least, I could wander through the woods alone to look for birds. I didn’t make it. Instead, I spent the second half of March, 2020, and most of April, being completely useless in the giant city of Berlin. I was, therefore, not expecting much.

Towards the end of that period, when the weather began to feel more like spring, I finally was able to pull myself up for a few short rides around the city, usually including a section through the well known Tiergarten Park. The rides were pleasant enough, though practically useless in terms of keeping my level of fitness up. At least, I thought, I might be able to pick up a few common birds in the park. As it turned out, while I was able to get some better photos of birds I had already seen, only two new species made themselves known there, Song Thrush, and Eurasian Jay. Another spotted thrush will never excite me very much, but the jay was satisfying, because I had been expecting to get that species since I had been in Europe, but hadn’t until then.

However, on one of those rides, when I was almost back to the place I was staying and moving along the paths that parallel the banks of the Spree River, right in the center of the city, something much more interesting caught my attention, Mandarin Duck! A beautiful drake was standing just a few meters away, and was gracious enough to pose for a few photographs. I might sometimes be reluctant to count a species that had previously been introduced to another part of the World, as was the case with this extraordinary duck, which normally lives in East Asia. However, under the circumstances, no. No, no, no, no. There was not any chance of me ignoring that particular sighting. Slightly later, when I finally made it out to Potsdam to see the World Heritage Site there, I was pleased to see several more in the waters of its gardens. The observations of this amazing duck, which I had hoped to see in Asia, but now might not, were just enough to tide me over during this unfortunate dry spell.