I’m not going to lie. I’m incredibly excited by all the signs of spring I’ve been coming across lately. But I’m also trying to take in as much as I can of some of our winter visitors, like this Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula), before they migrate back north to their breeding grounds in the boreal forests of Canada and Alaska. During the winter, Common Goldeneyes frequent shallow coastal bays, estuaries, harbors and ponds around Cape Cod, and throughout much of the United States. 

The males are quite distinctive with a bright yellow eye that gives this species its name, a shiny green-black head with a white cheek patch, and a distinctive black and white body. This particular individual was snoozing on and off, almost motionless on the pond’s surface, giving me plenty of time to admire his plumage. Common Goldeneyes can be distinguished from the less common Barrow’s Goldeneye by the shape of their cheek patch: round on the Common Goldeneye and crescent-shaped on the Barrow’s Goldeneye. Like ring-necked ducks and eiders, goldeneyes dive for their food, eating predominantly invertebrates and fish. To swim underwater, goldeneyes hold their wings tight to their bodies, kicking with their feet for propulsion. Each dive can last up to a minute, often ending with the bird surfacing some distance from where you last saw it.