{"id":55903,"date":"2019-02-02T06:42:18","date_gmt":"2019-02-02T13:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=55903"},"modified":"2025-09-14T05:52:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T10:52:12","slug":"drake-common-goldeneye-flapping-his-wings-on-the-jordan-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/02\/02\/drake-common-goldeneye-flapping-his-wings-on-the-jordan-river\/","title":{"rendered":"Drake Common Goldeneye Flapping His Wings On The Jordan River"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CommonCommon Goldeneye drake on the Jordan River – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I feel fortunate to live close to the Jordan River Parkway<\/span><\/a> since it is a beautiful river and because of the birds I find there. The Parkway is 40 miles in length and runs through Utah, Salt Lake and Davis Counties on its way to the Great Salt Lake.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

I’ve photographed the goldeneyes diving in the swift moving water of the river while searching for food, watching them chase each other and floating along the tree lined river.<\/p>\n

This Common Goldeneye drake had been foraging and he flapped his wings rapidly before continuing to search underwater for food just below a small section of rapids. I photographed him one afternoon this past January when the clouds broke up enough to allow some sunshine to light up the birds on the river.<\/p>\n

It is probably a good thing that I don’t live close enough to the Jordan River where I could see it out of my windows or I would never get anything done, I’d always be looking for birds.<\/p>\n

What a way to spend the day though, right?<\/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":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155918,"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":[27,962,758,709,26],"tags":[4004,4053,4238,4520,4711,4483,1129,126,6348,5586,5556,4062,5557,5558,4470,8018,2063,3200,373],"class_list":["post-55903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-common-goldeneyes","category-jordan-river-trail","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-bucephala-clangula","tag-common-goldeneye","tag-diving-duck","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-goldeneye","tag-goldeneyes","tag-jordan-river","tag-male","tag-rapids","tag-river","tag-rocks","tag-urban","tag-waterfowl","tag-wing-flapping","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-flapping-mia-mcpherson-4260.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-exF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":43962,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/12\/16\/male-common-goldeneye-in-breeding-plumage-on-the-jordan-river\/","url_meta":{"origin":55903,"position":0},"title":"Male Common Goldeneye in Breeding Plumage on the Jordan River","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 16, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed this male Common Goldeneye in breeding plumage on the Jordan River in Salt Lake County, Utah in low light on a cold morning.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Common Goldeneye taking off from the top of some rapids, Jordan River, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-rapids-mia-mcpherson-3805.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-rapids-mia-mcpherson-3805.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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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, 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