Here we see a common goldeneye duck in one of the open areas in nearly iced-in Patten Bay recently. He’s an immature (“eclipse”) male that needs open, relatively shallow water to dive for his meals of fish and marine invertebrates (crabs, sea stars, etc.).
Why these birds are called goldeneyes is obvious, but they’re also known as “whistlers” due to the sound that their short, fast-beating wings make when they take off.
Finding good, open diving water can be a problem now for goldeneyes (Bucephala clangula americana). Here’s what the Bay looked like that day:
However, finding open water is not their main problem. Vickery’s Birds of Maine, citing National Audubon Society data, stated in 2020 that, “As goldeneyes primarily nest in the taiga [cold, subarctic forest where the birds nest in tree cavities], climate change over the next 60 years is projected to diminish both the quantity of appropriate forest and quality of breeding habitat.” (Images taken in Surry, Maine, on January 22, 2022.)