You might have heard of New York City's 'hot duck', a Mandarin duck that inexplicably landed in Central Park in October 2018 and never left. It's been covered extensively in the media, tourists have flocked to take pictures of it, and New York Magazine named it New York's most eligible bachelor. Of course, there has been a backlash, but most people agree the duck is pretty damn special.
everyone loves the hot duck 🔥🔥🔥💯👌🦆🦆🦆https://t.co/gj69ueN8M1 pic.twitter.com/Mf6PPObYw7
— frog babie! (@frogbabie) January 14, 2019
Well, now Melbourne has its own hot duck, and it's quite a beaut. And of course, because it's in Melbourne, it is black.
Is this not the coolest duck you've ever seen? 😎 We think he should be called Danny Zuko. The Victorian #birdwatching community have spotted a Tufted Duck at our #WesternTreatmentPlant & it's the first ever sighting in Australia! Have you been bird watching @ WTP? 📸 Steve Young pic.twitter.com/dQbscDFvSW
— Melbourne Water (@MelbourneWater) January 12, 2019
People are calling it the goth hot duck, and we reckon it looks a bit like a very hip arts student with an asymmetrical haircut. It's a tufted duck, and it's already been given a very Australian name: Tuffy. Tufted ducks are usually found in Europe an Asia, spending the winters as far south as India and Southern China. No tufted duck has ever been seen as far south as Australia before.
The photo above is not actually of Tuffy, but of another tufted duck. No one has nailed a great close-up of Tuffy yet, and that might be because of its current environment.
It's ... well OK, there's no easy way to say this, but it's swimming in shit. It's been spotted at the Western Treatment Plant, which is really no place for such a gorgeous creature, but somehow so completely appropriate for Melbourne's version. You do you, hot goth duck.