{"id":62630,"date":"2020-01-14T06:12:14","date_gmt":"2020-01-14T13:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=62630"},"modified":"2025-09-14T06:21:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T11:21:00","slug":"photographing-drake-common-goldeneyes-in-a-territorial-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/01\/14\/photographing-drake-common-goldeneyes-in-a-territorial-dispute\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographing Drake Common Goldeneyes In A Territorial Dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DrakeDrake Common Goldeneye being chased by another drake – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday afternoon I was thrilled to be able to photograph two adult drake Common Goldeneyes in a territorial dispute on a pond as they moved across my field of view. I had only seen one drake so seeing the second male Common Goldeneye came as a surprise to me. My first indication that there was a second male was when the first one started moving quickly over the water.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Common Goldeneye running on water – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the drake Common Goldeneyes ran on the water for a bit and then started to slow down by using his feet, tail and wings.<\/p>\n

I liked how the male goldeneye was looking over the top of his wing in this frame and how he was just beginning to put his second foot down to slow his movement on the water.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake Common Goldeneye skidding across the surface of a pond – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Two frames later both of the feet of the drake were on the water, the wing he had been looking over was raised high enough to show his face and the front of his webbed feet were raised to help him slow down.<\/p>\n

\"CommonCommon Goldeneye drake sliding across the surface of a pond – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Then the Common Goldeneye drake leaned forward, lowered both wings and slid across the surface of the pond which caused the water to splash in front and behind him.<\/p>\n

\"CommonCommon Goldeneye drake at the end of a chase – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

At the end of the chase a large bow wave developed around the male goldeneye that seemingly swallowed up everything but the head of the drake. My shutter speed was fast enough to “freeze” the large bow wave.<\/p>\n

I believe this might be the largest bow wave I’ve ever photographed along with a Common Goldeneye.<\/p>\n

\"IntrudingIntruding male Common Goldeneye moving quickly away from being chased off – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The intruding Common Goldeneye drake took off again and moved very quickly away from the victor of the brief but action packed chase.<\/p>\n

During this territorial dispute and chase I moved my lens back and forth between the two drakes so that I would get images of both of them. That may not have been the best course to take but I am glad that I decided to do it.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake Common Goldeneye wing flap after chasing away an intruder – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The Common Goldeneye that chased off the intruding male slowed his movements at the end of the chase and then proceeded to flap his wings. I can’t be sure that his wing flap signaled his “victory” over the other male but it sure seemed like that to me.<\/p>\n

This skirmish between the two male Common Goldeneye only took about 14 seconds. I’m glad that I was paying attention to the birds in front of me, that I was mostly able to keep up with them and that I have some photos that show the action I saw through my viewfinder.<\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday afternoon I was thrilled to be able to photograph two adult drake Common Goldeneyes in a territorial dispute on a pond as they moved across my field of view.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155928,"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":[27,962,709,26],"tags":[4004,8295,4238,4284,5492,4520,4753,4483,1129,126,8296,6348,5586,4062,8301,8300,1984,4148,8294,5493,7544,6287,8018,8297,3996,4489,373],"class_list":["post-62630","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-bow-wave","tag-bucephala-clangula","tag-chase","tag-chased","tag-common-goldeneye","tag-diving-ducks","tag-drake","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-end","tag-goldeneye","tag-goldeneyes","tag-male","tag-photograph","tag-photographing","tag-pond","tag-running","tag-skidding","tag-sliding","tag-surface","tag-territorial-dispute","tag-urban","tag-victory","tag-water","tag-wing-flap","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-drake-running-on-water-mia-mcpherson-2883.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-gia","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55129,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/11\/26\/drake-common-goldeneyes-in-a-brief-territorial-dispute\/","url_meta":{"origin":62630,"position":0},"title":"Drake Common Goldeneyes In A Brief Territorial Dispute","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The drake Common Goldeneyes didn't have any physical contact that I could see because that often happens under the water but the drake in the back seemed intent on making the one in the front leave the area.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Drake Common Goldeneye being chased, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-fight-mia-mcpherson-4114.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-fight-mia-mcpherson-4114.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-fight-mia-mcpherson-4114.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-goldeneye-fight-mia-mcpherson-4114.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":61846,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/12\/02\/why-do-these-drake-common-goldeneyes-look-different\/","url_meta":{"origin":62630,"position":1},"title":"Why Do These Drake Common Goldeneyes Look Different?","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Both of these drake Common Goldeneyes were photographed on January 7, 2018, but they don't look quite the same.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult drake Common Goldeneye side view, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-goldeneye-adult-male-mia-mcpherson-3509.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-goldeneye-adult-male-mia-mcpherson-3509.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-goldeneye-adult-male-mia-mcpherson-3509.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/common-goldeneye-adult-male-mia-mcpherson-3509.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":62630,"position":2},"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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2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I found my first of season Common Goldeneye near a stand of rushes while walking around a local pond after a light skiff of snow had fallen overnight.","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":"First of season drake Common Goldeneye in Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/common-goldeneye-fos-mia-mcpherson-3471.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/common-goldeneye-fos-mia-mcpherson-3471.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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