ORIGINAL: deke12ga
I know Pintails banded in Japan have been recovered in the US according to acounts in DU magazine.
Singluar... A pintail banded in Japan was shot in Mississippi last year. The odds are astronomical. Pretty neat though. I know a few guys on the eastern shore (VA and MD) that have shot both brant and swans banded in Russia (and a few seasons ago an acquaintence showed me one he took the year prior that was not Russia.. but the USSR). USFWS bands have been recovered on the other sides of both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. A mallard released from the SCWA in the late 90s was taken a few years later in New Zealand. Most of them stay on the atlantic and miss flyways though.
You are correct by the way about the Mandarins being native to Asia.
Also I read somewhere that a lot of the non native species such as the Mandarin Duck that are found in the wild escaped from bird habitats and/or sanctuarys... Places that have exoctic species on display for the public and sometime the birds find their way out. Could have what you saw Phil shoot be a Harlequin Duck? They are about the same size somewhat similar in the coloration just different patterns? Thats just a thought. The Harlequin duck is native to the northern pacific flyway...
You are dead right about escaping non native ducks from private aviaries, and I suspect thats where the duck taken on DC 9 (bloodline) came from, but it was infact a Mandarin duck as Crowkilla pointed out. There are a few ducks taken every year that you'll read about over on the refuge that are from South America such as ringed and silver teal (probably get caught up with the bluewings in central America). I've heard of folks shooting East Indies ducks mixed in with mallards and so forth as well.