By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over? I mean does somebody come around in a truck or something and take them away, or do they fly away by themselves—go south or something? — A Catcher In The Rye

Apparently the answer to Holden Caulfield's question was that they stay right there where they are, at least for now. Maybe forever. Hopefully forever, because this duck is all we have that is good anymore. Anyway, while the bodies of water in Central Park are not yet frozen over, we did get our first snowstorm in The Season Of The Duck, and it looks like Mandarin Patinkin quite enjoyed himself! (We guess? Hard to tell with a duck.)

We know this duck can fly, because it has been moving around the Park a fair amount. But while it certainly has the ability to hit warmer climates when things get colder, a little snow hasn't scared him off so far. But will he leave? Last month when we asked David Barrett, who runs the Manhattan Bird Alert Twitter account, he told us: "Domestic ducks, particularly those across the world from their natural habitat, do not usually have the migration instinct." He believes this guy can "easily handle NYC winter cold as long as it has open water... and the artificial water flow [at the Pond] provides a small patch of open water even during protracted severe cold." Which is a much better answer than Holden got ("How the hell should I know about a stupid thing like that?")

Now, please enjoy these photos and videos of Mandarin Patinkin in the snow. It's impossible to know if this is the sound of joy or hate, but we're choosing to believe it's the former: