{"id":50586,"date":"2018-01-08T06:26:40","date_gmt":"2018-01-08T13:26:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=50586"},"modified":"2025-09-13T17:47:34","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T22:47:34","slug":"common-goldeneye-drake-with-a-crayfish-we-were-both-lucky-ducks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/01\/08\/common-goldeneye-drake-with-a-crayfish-we-were-both-lucky-ducks\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Goldeneye Drake With A Crayfish – We Were Both Lucky Ducks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DrakeDrake Common Goldeneye with a crayfish – Nikon D500, f8, , 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

It is hard to figure out who is the lucky duck here, the Common Goldeneye for catching the crayfish or me for seeing the duck with the crayfish and photographing it. Well, unless I had my eyes glued to a phone screen it would have been hard to miss the duck because it was so close to the shoreline and to me that I had a hard time keeping the whole duck in my viewfinder.<\/p>\n

This image is full frame and I just reduced it in size for web presentation. It would have been really easy to clip the tail of the duck because it was so close and I did in a few frames. I can’t even count how many times that golden eye is reflected in the water!<\/p>\n

\"CommonCommon Goldeneye male with a crayfish in his bill – Nikon D500, f8, , 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The duck was moving towards the left side of the frame while it had the crayfish in its bill as can be seen by the small bow wave in front of the bird. The crayfish still had its claws and unlike how Pied-billed Grebes deal with those claws by grasping them and shaking them off before swallowing the crayfish, I didn’t see the goldeneye take that step prior to consuming the crustacean.<\/p>\n

This photo is also full frame and reduced in size for web presentation. I love the wiggly reflection of the golden eye and bright, white cheek spot in this image.<\/p>\n

\"CloseClose up view of a drake Common Goldeneye with a crayfish and lamellae – Nikon D500, f8, , 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I could see the lamellae in the duck’s bill through my lens and cropped in close on this image to show them. Some ducks have lamellae on their lower mandible that help the ducks to strain small animals, insects and plants out of the water and the mud. In this photo the lamellae can be seen above the head of the crayfish and in front of its legs inside the duck’s bill.<\/p>\n

\"CloserCloser view of the lamellae of a Common Goldeneye – Nikon D500, f8, , 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

An even tighter crop shows the bumpy protrusions of the lamellae.<\/p>\n

The Common Goldeneye turned with it’s back to me before it swallowed the crayfish whole, I would have enjoyed getting photos of that but I am happy with what I took.<\/p>\n

I think the Common Goldeneye gets the prize for being the lucky duck but I get one too for photographing it.<\/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":"

It is hard to figure out who is the lucky duck here, the Common Goldeneye for catching the crayfish or me for seeing the duck with the crayfish and photographing it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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":[4004,5552,4053,4238,4520,2544,4753,1129,126,4286,6348,5586,4905,1984,8018,2063,373],"class_list":["post-50586","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-bill","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-bucephala-clangula","tag-common-goldeneye","tag-crayfish","tag-diving-ducks","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-eating","tag-goldeneye","tag-goldeneyes","tag-lamellae","tag-pond","tag-urban","tag-waterfowl","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-male-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-3406.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-d9U","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":109770,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/22\/1st-winter-common-goldeneye-drake-with-a-crawdad\/","url_meta":{"origin":50586,"position":0},"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":121750,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/02\/22\/what-happened-to-winter-in-the-salt-lake-valley\/","url_meta":{"origin":50586,"position":1},"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":99210,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/01\/24\/first-winter-common-goldeneye-drake-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":50586,"position":2},"title":"First Winter Common Goldeneye Drake Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Two days ago I spent a lot of time focused on a first winter Common Goldeneye drake as he swam, foraged, and ate at an urban pond close to home.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Common Goldeneye drake swallowing a crayfish, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-drake-1st-winter-mia-mcpherson-2414.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-1st-winter-mia-mcpherson-2414.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-drake-1st-winter-mia-mcpherson-2414.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-drake-1st-winter-mia-mcpherson-2414.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":98474,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/12\/26\/christmas-day-birds-2021\/","url_meta":{"origin":50586,"position":3},"title":"Christmas Day Birds 2021","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I did get out to find and photograph birds on Christmas Day at Farmington Bay WMA and then later in the morning I found more closer to home.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Common Goldeneye drake with a Christmas crayfish, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/common-goldeye-drake-adult-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-2142.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/common-goldeye-drake-adult-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-2142.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/common-goldeye-drake-adult-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-2142.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/common-goldeye-drake-adult-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-2142.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":50586,"position":4},"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. 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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":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50586","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=50586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}