Common Goldeneye

Common Goldeneye, male, breeding plumage

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Common Goldeneye, adult female.

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

The black-and-white Common Goldeneye is one of the last ducks to migrate south in fall. It often will winter as far north as open water permits.

Description

• Medium-sized diving duck.
• Chunky body.
• Large head.
• Male white with black back and head, and circular white spot on face.

• Size: 40-51 cm (16-20 in)
• Wingspan: 77-83 cm (30-33 in)
• Weight: 600-1300 g (21.18-45.89 ounces)

Sex Differences

Male patterned in bold black and white, female smaller and gray with brown head.

Sound

Silent except in courtship when male gives a faint "peent." Wings produce a loud whistling in flight.

Conservation Status

Populations appear stable.

Other Names

Garrot commun, Garrot à oeil d'or (French)
Porrón osculado (Spanish)

Cool Facts

• A female Common Goldeneye often lays eggs in the nest of another female, especially in nest boxes. She may lay in the nests of other species of ducks as well. Common and Barrow's goldeneyes lay in each other's nests, and Wood Ducks and Hooded Mergansers often lay in the goldeneye's nest too.

• After the ducklings leave the nest they can feed themselves and require only protection. Some females abandon their broods soon after hatching, and the young will join another female's brood. Such mixed broods, known as "creches," may also occur when a female loses some ducklings after a territorial fight with another female. Young scatter and mix when females fight, and not all of them get back to their mother when the fight ends. Some or all of the ducklings may be transferred to one brood, usually that of the territory owner.

• The eyes of a Common Goldeneye are gray-brown at hatching. They turn purple-blue, then blue, then green-blue as they age. By five months of age they have become clear pale green-yellow. The eyes will be bright yellow in adult males and pale yellow to white in females.

Sources used to construct this page:

Eadie, J. M., M. L. Mallory, and H. G. Lumsden. 1995. Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula). In The Birds of North America, No. 170 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.