{"id":118604,"date":"2023-11-28T04:33:03","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T11:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=118604"},"modified":"2023-11-28T04:33:03","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T11:33:03","slug":"first-of-season-common-goldeneye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/28\/first-of-season-common-goldeneye\/","title":{"rendered":"First Of Season Common Goldeneye"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake Common Goldeneye portrait \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/5000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

My purpose for going down to the pond that afternoon was to check and see if any winter ducks had arrived. I was tickled to see the goldeneye drake. If only I had taken my camera with me, I might have been able to document his presence with some photos.<\/p>\n

The Common Goldeneyes that visit my local pond can be very approachable at times, that is how I was able to take the portrait of this drake in January of 2021. The dashing goldeneye shook his wings so close to me that taking this portrait was a breeze.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake Common Goldeneye settling down \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Ten frames later, he was settling back down onto the water, and I was able to fit his whole body into my viewfinder.<\/p>\n

I don’t see Common Goldeneyes<\/span><\/a> in northern Utah during their breeding season; only during the colder months of the year.<\/p>\n

I always get excited when they come back because not only can they be fun to photograph, but they can be challenging too due to the high contrast between their snow-white feathers and shiny dark green heads.<\/p>\n

On top of those things, these striking diving ducks can be very active. I adore watching them when they are feeding on crawdads and fish, preening, or flying in and out of the pond, or in other locations in northern Utah.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good. Birds always make it better.<\/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":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":118598,"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":[27,962,709,26],"tags":[4004,4238,4142,4520,4753,10467,4483,1129,126,6348,5586,4062,10698,1984,4046,4740,8018,3996,373],"class_list":["post-118604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-common-goldeneyes","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-bucephala-clangula","tag-close-up","tag-common-goldeneye","tag-diving-ducks","tag-down","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-goldeneye","tag-goldeneyes","tag-male","tag-park","tag-pond","tag-portrait","tag-settling","tag-urban","tag-water","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/common-goldeneye-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-7243.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-uQY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":107941,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/11\/12\/my-first-of-season-common-goldeneye\/","url_meta":{"origin":118604,"position":0},"title":"My First Of Season Common Goldeneye","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 12, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"First of season drake Common Goldeneye in Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/common-goldeneye-fos-mia-mcpherson-3471.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/common-goldeneye-fos-mia-mcpherson-3471.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/common-goldeneye-fos-mia-mcpherson-3471.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/common-goldeneye-fos-mia-mcpherson-3471.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":118604,"position":1},"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":118869,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/12\/10\/drake-common-goldeneye-landing\/","url_meta":{"origin":118604,"position":2},"title":"Drake Common Goldeneye Landing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 10, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, I am sharing a simple photo of a drake Common Goldeneye coming in to land on my local pond early in the morning. I took this image a few days ago.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Drake Common Goldeneye slide landing, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/common-goldenye-drake-slide-landing-mia-mcpherson-8823.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/common-goldenye-drake-slide-landing-mia-mcpherson-8823.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/common-goldenye-drake-slide-landing-mia-mcpherson-8823.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/common-goldenye-drake-slide-landing-mia-mcpherson-8823.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":108781,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/16\/immature-male-common-goldeneye-and-catfish\/","url_meta":{"origin":118604,"position":3},"title":"Immature Male Common Goldeneye And Catfish","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 16, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"On this day two years ago, I photographed this immature male Common Goldeneye with a catfish at the pond in my neighborhood. It was a chilly, wintry afternoon.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature male Common Goldeneye with a catfish, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/common-goldeneye-drake-young-catfish-mia-mcpherson-1547.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/common-goldeneye-drake-young-catfish-mia-mcpherson-1547.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/common-goldeneye-drake-young-catfish-mia-mcpherson-1547.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/common-goldeneye-drake-young-catfish-mia-mcpherson-1547.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":121750,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/02\/22\/what-happened-to-winter-in-the-salt-lake-valley\/","url_meta":{"origin":118604,"position":4},"title":"What Happened To Winter In The Salt Lake Valley?","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 22, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"It is almost the end of February and I'm wondering what happened to winter this year in the Salt Lake Valley. Has winter gone on walkabout? Where is the snow?","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature drake Common Goldeneye with a crayfish catch, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/common-goldeneye-immature-male-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-2753.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/common-goldeneye-immature-male-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-2753.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/common-goldeneye-immature-male-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-2753.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/common-goldeneye-immature-male-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-2753.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":122111,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/02\/27\/drake-common-goldeneyes-in-winter\/","url_meta":{"origin":118604,"position":5},"title":"Drake Common Goldeneyes In Winter","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 27, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Two drake Common Goldeneyes in winter, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/common-goldeneye-drakes-winter-mia-mcpherson-7071.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/common-goldeneye-drakes-winter-mia-mcpherson-7071.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/common-goldeneye-drakes-winter-mia-mcpherson-7071.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/common-goldeneye-drakes-winter-mia-mcpherson-7071.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\/118604","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=118604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}