Last week, The Citizen’s columnist Sallie Satterthwaite wrote about a colorful but out-of-place Mandarin duck spotted bobbing in the Three Ponds recreation area in Braelinn Village.

Friday, The Peachtree Citizen published a spectacular photo of the same duck snapped by a local photographer, Dan Nelson.

In the meantime, the paper received e-mails from the purported original owner of the now-wild duck.

Below is the correspondence between Sallie and the person she calls “the duck whisperer.”

From the duck whisperer:

Dear Sallie:

I’m the guilty culprit responsible for a free range Mandarin drake in Peachtree City. I used to raise waterfowl in my Fayette County backyard until a year ago when I sold my home and donated my entire flock to a Virginia zoological gardens.

Several years ago I had some young Mandarins escape, both male and female. I hadn’t seen them around in over a year and figured they fell victim to hawks and owls which are common predators to ducks. Obviously at least one has survived. Because he wasn’t seen with other Mandarins, it leads me to believe he is the sole survivor.

Enjoy him while you can. ... There is no more beautiful bird on the planet in my opinion.

From Sallie:

Thanks for revealing your identity — or not. A lot of people have been calling or writing about the bird.

I agree with you about his beauty. I don’t know where you live now, although I’d suspect fairly nearby or you wouldn’t have seen the column or the photograph.

Isn’t that a stunning picture? I downloaded it to my desktop as an incentive to clear off the odds and ends of files that litter it.

Sallie

From the duck whisperer:

Yes, it is a great photo. I’m surprised he still survived (two years in the wild is a lot for a wild duck). I live in PTC. I don’t want to reveal my identity as the DNR [Ga. Department of Natural Resources] might not be too happy with me. Let’s hope he sticks around....