Common Goldeneye - Bucephala clangula

Identification Tips:

1. Length: 13 inches Wingspan: 31 inches
2. Medium-sized diving duck
3. Yellow eye
4. Gently sloped forehead
5. Black bill is small, but larger than in Barrow's Goldeneye
6. White patches on the secondaries and secondary coverts visible in flight
7. 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:

1. Alternate plumage worn from fall through early summer
2. Glossy greenish head
3. White circular patch below eye on face
4. White lower neck, breast, belly and flanks
5. Dark back
6. White scapulars with black striping

Adult male basic:

1. Similar to adult female

Adult female:

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

Similar species: