{"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_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"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":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t