When I took this photo of two drake Common Goldeneyes at Bear River MBR almost two years ago, I was laughing as I hit my shutter button. I couldn’t help myself.
Two drake Common Goldeneyes in winter – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
The mohawk that the drake goldeneye on the left was sporting cracked me up. Maybe I should just call it a faux-hawk. The green-headed diving duck certainly looked punked out. That faux-hawk struck me as funny then, and it still does today.
The drake Common Goldeneye may have been signaling the other drake that he had gotten too close. Perhaps he was just acting like a tough guy. I will never know for sure.
I just know that the drake’s faux-hawk made me laugh out loud. It was probably a good thing I was alone that day, and that no one else was around. Thankfully the ducks didn’t seem bothered by my laughter at all.
I’m going off track for a little bit here.
I went through my late February images for all years last night and noticed something odd: I’ve never been in the field taking images on February 27th. Not once. As much as I wish I could rectify that, today’s forecast looks horrible. Cloudy, possible snow showers, and high winds aren’t great for finding birds, let alone photographing them.
Come to think of it, I’ve never been in the field on February 29th either. Of course that only comes around every 4 years!
Back to the Common Goldeneyes
I hope the faux-hawk on the drake goldeneye makes you all laugh. Right now I think we could all use good laughs every day! I know I do.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Common Goldeneye photos plus facts and information about this species.
I can’t decide if the Golden Eye’s “Do” can be best characterized as a Roman Centurion or a Mohican warrior. Either way he is definitely the guardian at the gate. Great pics; I love the reflections and the 3-way eye contact is wonderful. Thanks Mia.
It is a funny featherdo. The only place I have seen many golden eyes this year is way out in Farmington Bay side of the causeway. There were quite a few my last trip 4 days ago. I have not been walking the Jordan River trail much this year, usually there are a good number in sections of the river.