Comparing goldeneyes - Barrows vs Common.

Top:  Common goldeneye ducks.        Bottom:  Barrow's goldeneye ducks.

I have taken the above images from photos I have shot over the years, some taken this year (the female common goldeneye) and some taken years ago (the male common goldeneye).  I used to wonder what I was going to do with the mass of photos I have collected; it seems now that they have been useful in my blogs.

There are only two species of goldeneye ducks.  Common goldeneyes are found throughout North America and Eurasia.  In the Western Hemisphere, they breed in Canada and reside throughout most of the US and some of Mexico in the winter.  They also winter in parts of southern Canada; I have seen them overwinter here in Kelowna.  Barrow's goldeneye, on the other hand, has a very narrow range along the western coast of North America with some populations around the St. Lawrence River.  Barrow's goldeneyes overwinter along the Pacific coast and parts of southern BC.

The chances of seeing a common goldeneye somewhere in North America are very good, but Barrow's is relatively narrow.  I have photographed common goldeneyes in Alberta but never seen Barrow's there.  All Barrow's goldeneyes have been photographed around the Lower Mainiland where I used to live or here in Kelowna, where I currently reside.

Identification is relatively easy for the males.  The bright yellow (golden) eyes, along with the large white spot posterior to them, is a relatively sure way to identify the bird as a goldeneye.  If the bird is within the range of both species, Barrow's goldeneyes have a somewhat dome-shaped head with dark blue/purple feather, while the common goldeneye's head is mostly black.  Then there is the destinctive white bars found on Barrow's shoulders.  The females look similar, with the female common goldeneye having a distinctive yellow tip at the end of the bill.

I have written on both species before.  My blog on Barrow's goldeneye can be found here.  My blog on common goldeneyes here.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

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