{"id":11917,"date":"2013-12-15T05:08:21","date_gmt":"2013-12-15T11:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=11917"},"modified":"2025-09-13T12:18:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T17:18:49","slug":"a-first-winter-common-goldeneye-male","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/12\/15\/a-first-winter-common-goldeneye-male\/","title":{"rendered":"First winter Common Goldeneye male"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FirstFirst winter Male Common Goldeneye in an icy pond – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Common Goldeneyes are diving sea ducks that\u00a0over winter in the Salt Lake Valley where\u00a0I see and photograph them at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge<\/span><\/a>, along the causeway to Antelope Island State Park<\/a><\/span> and at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0I photographed this first winter male Common Goldeneye a few days ago at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area. By next winter; if he survives that long, he will have his full adult plumage.<\/p>\n

The snow on the ground and the Phragmites reflected on the water is what created the delightful patterns around the Goldeneye.<\/p>\n

Common Goldeneyes are cavity nesting ducks and I have seen them nesting\u00a0in cavities on\u00a0rocky cliffs in southwestern Montana. I admit it does look a bit strange to me to see a duck flying right towards a cliff wall to land and perch on\u00a0 top of rocks. \u00a0They breed in the northern U.S. and in Canada.<\/p>\n

\"CommonMale Common Goldeneye partially submerged\u00a0– Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This image and the following one were taken as the Common Goldeneye came up from a dive, I like how the water covers the duck and how the head has a sheet of water over it. That golden eye certainly stands out well.<\/p>\n

\"CommonCommon Goldeneye popping up from a dive\u00a0– Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This frame, taken immediately after the one above shows how quickly the water is shed off of the ducks head.<\/p>\n

Common Goldeneyes are also found in Scandinavia and Russia, Scotland, and Britain, fortunately we don’t have to travel that far to see and photograph them!<\/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":"

Common Goldeneyes are diving sea ducks that over winter in the Salt Lake Valley where I see and photograph them at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge, along the causeway to Antelope Island State Park and at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_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":[27,962,697,26],"tags":[405,4238,10964,4520,4478,4753,4483,1129,126,6348,5586,6241,4062,4094,1984,10963,3996,2063,4095,373],"class_list":["post-11917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-common-goldeneyes","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-utah","tag-1st-winter","tag-bucephala-clangula","tag-cavity-nesting","tag-common-goldeneye","tag-dive","tag-diving-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-goldeneye","tag-goldeneyes","tag-icy","tag-male","tag-marsh","tag-pond","tag-submerged","tag-water","tag-waterfowl","tag-wetlands","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