Common goldeneye Bucephala clangula

Identification Tips:

• Length: 13 inches Wingspan: 31 inches
• Medium-sized diving duck
• Yellow eye
• Gently sloped forehead
• Black bill is small, but larger than in Barrow's Goldeneye
• White patches on the secondaries and secondary coverts visible in flight
• Immature female is similar to the adult female, immature male is like adult female but has a white breast,a darker head and a trace of the male's white patch before the eye

Adult male alternate:

• Alternate plumage worn from fall through early summer
• Glossy greenish head
• White circular patch below eye on face
• White lower neck, breast, belly and flanks
• Dark back
• White scapulars with black striping

Adult male basic:

• Similar to adult female

Adult female:

• Reddish-brown head
• Dark-based bill with light patch at tip
• Gray body, paler on the breast and darker on the back
• White patch on wing split by two dark bands

Similar species:

We are still arguing about this!

Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc.