{"id":61846,"date":"2019-12-02T06:37:33","date_gmt":"2019-12-02T13:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=61846"},"modified":"2025-05-24T09:56:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T14:56:10","slug":"why-do-these-drake-common-goldeneyes-look-different","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/12\/02\/why-do-these-drake-common-goldeneyes-look-different\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do These Drake Common Goldeneyes Look Different?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult drake Common Goldeneye side view – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/2500, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the time of the year when I look forward to seeing and photographing Common Goldeneyes on my local pond and in other ponds, lakes, rivers and marshes in the state. Common Goldeneyes do not breed in Utah but we do get to see them practically all winter long where there is open water. These diving ducks are challenging to photograph because of the high contrast between their dark and white plumage and because they are often wary of humans.<\/p>\n

Both of these drake Common Goldeneyes were photographed on January 7, 2018, but they don’t look quite the same. The body shape is identical as is the shape of the bill but their plumage coloring is different.<\/p>\n

The photo above shows an adult drake Common Goldeneye with a clear, yellow eyes, green iridescence on the head and neck with a white spot behind the all black bill. Most the the body of this male is a brilliant white that contrasts with the dark to black back, rump, wings and tail.<\/p>\n

The males are especially stunning in great light.<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst winter drake Common Goldeneye side view – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 400, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The Common Goldeneye in the photo above is also a drake but his coloring is different than the male in the first photo and that is because this male goldeneye is in its first winter. Note that his head and neck are brown instead of an iridescent green, that his body has less white and that his back, sides, rump and tail are brownish mixed with white. The amount of white and brown body feathers can vary from one individual to another.<\/p>\n

During their first winter their eyes are yellow but not clear or as bright of a yellow as adult male Common Goldeneyes exhibit. The white patch, or loral spot, behind the bill at this age can vary from clear white to white with a brown smudgy appearance.<\/p>\n

First winter drake Common Goldeneyes can be confusing for novice birders and bird photographers to sex but here is a hint, female Common Goldeneyes do not have the white loral spot behind their bills.<\/p>\n

I haven’t seen any Common Goldeneyes on my local pond yet this winter but I am keeping an eye out for them.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Common Goldeneye photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Both of these drake Common Goldeneyes were photographed on January 7, 2018, but they don’t look quite the same. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146697,"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],"tags":[4004,4238,4520,4982,4827,4753,4483,1129,126,2450,6348,5586,5013,4067,4062,8096,2063,373],"class_list":["post-61846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-common-goldeneyes","tag-adult","tag-bucephala-clangula","tag-common-goldeneye","tag-comparison","tag-differences","tag-diving-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-first-winter","tag-goldeneye","tag-goldeneyes","tag-identification","tag-immature","tag-male","tag-sex","tag-waterfowl","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-goldeneye-adult-male-mia-mcpherson-3509.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-g5w","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":75597,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/11\/29\/landing-drake-common-goldeneye\/","url_meta":{"origin":61846,"position":0},"title":"Landing Drake Common Goldeneye","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm anxious to start photographing the ducks I see close to home during the winter here in the Salt Lake Valley and from what I understand a few Common Goldeneyes have shown up.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Landing adult drake Common Goldeneye, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/common-goldeneye-drake-landing-mia-mcpherson-5921.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/common-goldeneye-drake-landing-mia-mcpherson-5921.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/common-goldeneye-drake-landing-mia-mcpherson-5921.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/common-goldeneye-drake-landing-mia-mcpherson-5921.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":61846,"position":1},"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":[]},{"id":55903,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/02\/02\/drake-common-goldeneye-flapping-his-wings-on-the-jordan-river\/","url_meta":{"origin":61846,"position":2},"title":"Drake Common Goldeneye Flapping His Wings On The Jordan River","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Common Goldeneye drake on the Jordan River, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-flapping-mia-mcpherson-4260.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-4260.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-flapping-mia-mcpherson-4260.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-flapping-mia-mcpherson-4260.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":118604,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/28\/first-of-season-common-goldeneye\/","url_meta":{"origin":61846,"position":3},"title":"First Of Season Common Goldeneye","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Drake Common Goldeneye settling down, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/common-goldeneye-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-7243.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/common-goldeneye-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-7243.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/common-goldeneye-drake-winter-mia-mcpherson-7243.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/common-goldeneye-male-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-2517.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/common-goldeneye-male-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-2517.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/common-goldeneye-male-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-2517.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/common-goldeneye-male-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-2517.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":49905,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/12\/15\/focusing-on-male-common-goldeneyes\/","url_meta":{"origin":61846,"position":5},"title":"Focusing On Male Common Goldeneyes","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent fifty-five minutes primarily focusing on male Common Goldeneyes yesterday afternoon and I am very happy with the images I took of these beautiful diving ducks.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Common Goldeneye flapping his wings, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-male-flapping-mia-mcpherson-3991.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-male-flapping-mia-mcpherson-3991.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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