Goldeneye at Tommy Thompson Park: December 2021

Common Goldeneyes, in my experience, rarely let you get very close. They are relatively common here in winter and I also see them while doing Breeding Bird Surveys in June in Northern Ontario.

Common Goldeneye (male)
Common Goldeneye (male)

Females, apart from the golden eye, look nothing like males:

Common Goldeneye (female)
Common Goldeneye (female)

They winter on open lakes, rivers and bays in small flocks.

Common Goldeneye (male) and Long-tailed Duck (male)
Long-tailed Ducks (female) and Common Goldeneye (female)
Common Goldeneye (female)

Common Goldeneyes eat mainly aquatic invertebrates, fish, and fish eggs, with vegetation such as seeds and tubers making up less than a quarter of the diet.

Common Goldeneye (female)
Common Goldeneye (female)
Bufflehead and Common Goldeneye (male)
Bufflehead and Common Goldeneye (male)
Long-tailed Duck (male) and Common Goldeneye (male)
Common Goldeneye (female)

Other birds:

Long-tailed Ducks (female)
American Black Duck (male)
American Black Duck (male)
American Black Duck (male)
Downy Woodpecker (female)
American Tree Sparrow
American Tree Sparrow
American Tree Sparrow
American Tree Sparrow
mostly Hooded Mergansers
American Wigeon
Red-breasted Mergansers
Red-breasted Mergansers

Park scenes:

Cormorant or Night-heron nest

NATURE THOUGHT

We’d never know how high we are, till we are called to rise; and then, if we are true to plan, our statures touch the sky.            – Emily Dickinson (1830–86)

Miles Hearn

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