{"id":107941,"date":"2022-11-12T04:20:29","date_gmt":"2022-11-12T11:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=107941"},"modified":"2023-10-01T03:02:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-01T09:02:00","slug":"my-first-of-season-common-goldeneye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/11\/12\/my-first-of-season-common-goldeneye\/","title":{"rendered":"My First Of Season Common Goldeneye"},"content":{"rendered":"

I found my first of season Common Goldeneye near a stand of rushes while walking around a local pond after a light skiff of snow had fallen overnight. Common Goldeneyes<\/span><\/a> do not breed in northern Utah but they do overwinter here.<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst of season drake Common Goldeneye in Salt Lake County \u2013 Nikon D500, handheld, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 800, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 300mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though I wasn’t close to the drake Common Goldeneye I took a few photos of him swimming in the reflections of the rushes. I suppressed the urge to dance around with glee at the edge of the pond only<\/em> because I could see another bird photographer with his lens pointed in the direction of the goldeneye. I didn’t want annoy the photographer or flush the handsome duck.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake Common Goldeneye running across the Bear River \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/4000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

When Common Goldeneyes arrive for the winter I know that I can find them in the marshes surrounding the Great Salt Lake, on small ponds, reservoirs up in the mountains, on the Great Salt Lake, and on rivers.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Common Goldeneye taking off from the Bear River \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/4000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Common Goldeneyes can be quite skittish in some areas and will take off in a flash at times. In January when this male goldeneye took off from the icy Bear River I barely had time to lock onto him.<\/p>\n

\"CommonCommon Goldeneye male lifting off from the Bear River \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/4000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I wanted to photograph the drake in flight but just as he lifted off he turned and had his back to me. I hope that this winter I’ll have more opportunities to photograph this goldeneye species in flight.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Common Goldeneye preening on an urban pond \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

On urban ponds and rivers I have found Common Goldeneyes to be more cooperative and far less skittish. They forage, eat, sleep, display, have territorial disputes, and preen within easy reach of my long lens.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Common Goldeneye contortions \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

No matter what they are doing I enjoy having Common Goldeneyes in my viewfinder while they overwinter here in northern Utah.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Common Goldeneye photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I found my first of season Common Goldeneye near a stand of rushes while walking around a local pond after a light skiff of snow had fallen overnight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":107924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,27,1148,962,709,26],"tags":[970,4529,4238,4520,4753,4483,1129,126,4620,6242,4944,4062,1984,4019,5558,5428,8018,3996,2063,4095,373],"class_list":["post-107941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-common-goldeneyes","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-autumn","tag-bear-river","tag-bucephala-clangula","tag-common-goldeneye","tag-diving-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-fall","tag-first-of-season","tag-lifting-off","tag-male","tag-pond","tag-preening-2","tag-river","tag-taking-off","tag-urban","tag-water","tag-waterfowl","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/common-goldeneye-fos-mia-mcpherson-3471.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-s4Z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":118604,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/28\/first-of-season-common-goldeneye\/","url_meta":{"origin":107941,"position":0},"title":"First Of Season Common Goldeneye","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Three days ago, I found my first-of-season Common Goldeneye drake at my local pond. I didn't have my camera with me, so I wasn't able to photograph him.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Drake Common Goldeneye settling down, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/common-goldeneye-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-7243.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/common-goldeneye-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-7243.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/common-goldeneye-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-7243.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/common-goldeneye-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-7243.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55903,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/02\/02\/drake-common-goldeneye-flapping-his-wings-on-the-jordan-river\/","url_meta":{"origin":107941,"position":1},"title":"Drake Common Goldeneye Flapping His Wings On The Jordan River","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"During the winter I'm able to see some of the ducks that I don't see during the breeding season here in northern Utah on the Jordan River including Common Goldeneyes.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Common Goldeneye drake on the Jordan River, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-flapping-mia-mcpherson-4260.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-flapping-mia-mcpherson-4260.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-flapping-mia-mcpherson-4260.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-flapping-mia-mcpherson-4260.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109770,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/22\/1st-winter-common-goldeneye-drake-with-a-crawdad\/","url_meta":{"origin":107941,"position":2},"title":"1st Winter Common Goldeneye Drake With A Crawdad","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 22, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Just a quick post this morning of a photo of a 1st winter Common Goldeneye drake with a crawdad in his bill at my neighborhood pond taken last year.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"1st winter Common Goldeneye drake with a crawdad, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-drake-first-winter-crawdad-mia-mcpherson-2757.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-drake-first-winter-crawdad-mia-mcpherson-2757.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-drake-first-winter-crawdad-mia-mcpherson-2757.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-drake-first-winter-crawdad-mia-mcpherson-2757.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":54672,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/10\/20\/common-goldeneye-drakes-close-to-home-december-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":107941,"position":3},"title":"Common Goldeneye Drakes Close To Home – December 2017","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I only see Common Goldeneyes in northern Utah during their nonbreeding season because they breed well north of here so I get a touch excited when they show up at my local pond.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Common Goldeneye drake on the last day of 2017, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-flapping-mia-mcpherson-4362.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-flapping-mia-mcpherson-4362.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-flapping-mia-mcpherson-4362.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-flapping-mia-mcpherson-4362.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55129,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/11\/26\/drake-common-goldeneyes-in-a-brief-territorial-dispute\/","url_meta":{"origin":107941,"position":4},"title":"Drake Common Goldeneyes In A Brief Territorial Dispute","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The drake Common Goldeneyes didn't have any physical contact that I could see because that often happens under the water but the drake in the back seemed intent on making the one in the front leave the area.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Drake Common Goldeneye being chased, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-fight-mia-mcpherson-4114.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-fight-mia-mcpherson-4114.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-fight-mia-mcpherson-4114.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-fight-mia-mcpherson-4114.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":75597,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/11\/29\/landing-drake-common-goldeneye\/","url_meta":{"origin":107941,"position":5},"title":"Landing Drake Common Goldeneye","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm anxious to start photographing the ducks I see close to home during the winter here in the Salt Lake Valley and from what I understand a few Common Goldeneyes have shown up.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Landing adult drake Common Goldeneye, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/common-goldeneye-drake-landing-mia-mcpherson-5921.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/common-goldeneye-drake-landing-mia-mcpherson-5921.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/common-goldeneye-drake-landing-mia-mcpherson-5921.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/common-goldeneye-drake-landing-mia-mcpherson-5921.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}