Common Goldeneye

Bucephala clangula

Order ANSERIFORMES - Family ANATIDAE - Subfamily Anatinae

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

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.

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.

Description

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

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

• Large white patch across base of wing, conspicuous in flight.

Sex Differences

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

Male

Breeding (Alternate) Plumage: Head greenish-black. Bright oval white patch on side of face at base of bill. Sides, breast, belly, and secondaries bright white. Back, wings, and tail black. Short, triangular black bill. Eyes golden yellow.
Nonbreeding (Basic) Plumage: like female, but with some black tinge at sides.

Female

Head chocolate brown. Back, wings, and tail slaty gray. Flanks, belly, and breast white. Eyes pale yellow to white. Short, triangular bill black with yellow tip of variable length.

Immature

Immature similar to female. First winter male similar to adult male, but has browner head, gray sides and chest, and smaller and less distinct white oval on face.

Similar Species

• Barrow's Goldeneye very similar. Male Barrow's has crescent-shaped white patch on face, less white on secondaries, more black on the back extending up onto the shoulder, a more rounded, purplish head, and a smaller bill. Female Barrow's has more rounded head, and a smaller bill with more extensive yellow.
• Male Bufflehead is smaller, with a larger white patch on face that is at the rear of the face, not at the base of the bill.

Sound

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

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds from Alaska across Canada and very northern United States. Also across northern Eurasia.

Winter Range

Winters from southern Canada throughout the United States southward to Mexico, and on the Pacific Coast from Alaska to Mexico. Also on European and Asian coasts.

Habitat

• Breeds along lakes and rivers bordered by forest.
• Winters primarily in marine waters, bays and harbors, as well as in large inland lakes and rivers.

Food

Aquatic invertebrates, and occasionally small fish and vegetation.

Behavior

Foraging

Dives underwater to capture prey on bottom. Flocks often dive together.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Nest in tree cavity or nest box, lined with downy feathers from chest of female.

Egg Description

Glossy greenish.

Clutch Size

5-16 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Covered with down, eyes open. Leave nest within two days after hatching.

Conservation Status

Populations appear stable.

Other Names

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

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.