January 29th, 2007. Turner's Falls Power Canal, MA. Common Goldeneye. Bucephala clangula. Female (1) with yellow-orange bill. First noted on January 27th, this female Common Goldeneye with an entirely yellow-orange bill caught my attention, and conveniently provided a great comparison with the now regular female Barrow’s Goldeneye. Of the late, almost all the goldeneyes at Turner’s Falls appear to be feeding on the Connecticut River during the day and only fly into the power canal towards dusk. The images, taken in fading light, are not the best, but hopefully show a decent comparison between the two. “Waterfowl” by Madge & Burn (1988) describes the bill color of female Common Goldeneye as: “blackish, with yellow distal portion, very rarely all yellow;”. Having heard about yellow-billed female Common Goldeneyes, mostly from the western states, I was certainly pleased to see one locally. Perhaps a potential pitfall in the identification of female Barrow’s Goldeneye? Present January 27th - 31st at least, with an amazing 120 Common Goldeneyes (and one female Barrow’s) on the power canal on the last date. NB. When viewing the images, please note that the actual bill color of both the Common and Barrow's Goldeneyes was much more striking than it appears in the images which were taken in fading light at dusk. |
 Compare head and bill shapes of Common and Barrow's Goldeneyes in this shot. Also note the much darker head of the Barrow's.  'yellow-billed' Common Goldeneye extreme left, Barrow's Goldeneye obscuring the male Common Goldeneye.  'yellow-billed' Common Goldeneye extreme left, Barrow's Goldeneye just right of center. Note the small bill and much darker head of the Barrow's Goldeneye.  'yellow-billed' Common Goldeneye center, Barrow's Goldeneye extreme right. |