Flocks of Goldeneyes are a familiar sight nearshore in bays and coves on Kodiak Island in the winter. While both Common and Barrow’s Goldeneyes visit Kodiak in the winter, Barrow’s are the most prevalent in this region, and they live year-round on the island.
The Common Goldeneye’s range stretches from Alaska and northern Canada down to California and northern Mexico and east across most of the contiguous United States. Barrow’s Goldeneyes are much less numerous and are found mainly in Alaska, western Canada, and the northwestern continental US.
Goldeneyes are medium-sized ducks with large, triangular heads. The bill is black with a small amount of yellow at the tip. It is narrow and slopes downward from the face. They have streamlined bodies and short tails.
An adult male Common Goldeneye has an iridescent green head that usually appears black. It has a round white spot near the bill and a bright yellow eye. Its back is black, and the sides are white. An adult female has a brown head and a gray back and wings. Both males and females display large white patches on the wings when flying.
A Barrow’s Goldeneye looks very similar to a Common Goldeneye. A Common Goldeneye has a round white spot behind its bill, while a Barrow’s Goldeneye has a crescent-shaped white spot behind the bill. A Common Goldeneye has an angular head, while a Barrow Goldeneye’s head appears rounded. Also, Barrow’s Goldeneyes have a black spur on the side, a mark that is absent in Common Goldeneyes.
When they hatch, male Goldeneye chicks have gray-brown eyes. They turn purple-blue, then blue, then green-blue as they age. By five months, they have clear pale green-yellow eyes, and finally, they turn bright yellow. Females have pale yellow to white eyes.
Goldeneyes mainly breed in the forests of Canada and Alaska, with smaller numbers of Common Goldeneyes breeding in North Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, and the Northeast. They nest in holes in trees near rivers, lakes, or wetlands. Since Barrow’s Goldeneyes do not always nest in tree cavities, they can nest farther north than Common Goldeneyes, extending north of the treeline. Barrow’s Goldeneyes breed on Kodiak Island, while Common Goldeneyes do not.
Common Goldeneyes migrate to the coast in the winter, gathering in bays and other protected areas along the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts. Barrow’s Goldeneyes mostly winter on the North Pacific Coast. Both species favor wintering areas with gravel, rock, and boulder substrates where they can find small mollusks and crustaceans. In the interior, Goldeneyes migrate only far enough south to find lakes and rivers that remain ice-free in the winter. During the winter, they form flocks of four to several hundred ducks.
Goldeneyes are compact and can fly over forty miles per hour. When flying, their wings make a whistling noise, and they are sometimes called “the whistler.” They are also strong swimmers and divers and spend much of their time on the water, where they dive for prey. When diving, they squeeze their wings tight to their body and kick with their feet. Dives can last up to a minute.
Goldeneyes form monogamous pairs sometime between December and April, and the pair stays together until the male leaves the female early in the incubation period. Before choosing a mate, the ducks gather in small courtship groups. The males perform elaborate displays, and the females respond with their own displays, often lowering their necks and swinging their heads forward. When they reach the breeding area, the male defends the female and the breeding territory from other Goldeneyes and Buffleheads.
When she reaches the nesting area, the female selects a cavity in a live or dead tree for the nest, often returning to the same nest year after year. The female might also lay her eggs in the nest of another duck. She smooths out material already in the nest to form a bowl and then plucks down feathers from her breast to form a soft lining. She lays four to nine eggs in the nest, which hatch after twenty-seven to thirty-three days. When they hatch, the chicks are covered in black and white down. They are alert with their eyes open and leave the nest after a day or two. If the nest is high up in a hole in a tree, the first step can be treacherous for the ducklings. The mother stands at the tree’s base and calls to her chicks while they step from the nest one by one and tumble to the ground.
Once the ducks leave the nest, the female usually protects them from other ducks. However, some mothers are less maternal and leave their young soon after they hatch. Her ducklings then join the brood of another duck.
Goldeneyes eat aquatic invertebrates, including crabs, shrimp, amphipods, and mussels. They also eat small fish, fish eggs, and insects. Vegetation, such as seeds and tubers, comprise a small part of their diet.
The oldest recorded Common Goldeneye was a male at least twenty years and five months old when he was found in Wisconsin. He had been banded as a young duck in Minnesota.
Goldeneye populations remain stable in most areas of their range, but biologists predict their range will shift northward as the climate warms.
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My true crime book, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, was a finalist for the Silver Falchion Award for the best true crime book of 2023.
Robin Barefield is the author of five Alaska wilderness mystery novels: Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, The Fisherman’s Daughter, Karluk Bones, and Massacre at Bear Creek Lodge. She is also the author of the non-fiction book Kodiak Island Wildlife and the true-crime book Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier. Sign up below to subscribe to her free monthly newsletter on true crime and mystery in Alaska, and listen to her podcast, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier.
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