ML203661221

Age and sex

Adult Female - 1

Behaviors

Foraging or eating

Observation details

One female seen associating with 5 Common Goldeneye immediately below the highway (Muskoka Road 169) bridge in Bala. Considerable downstream open water was available; however, this raft of six was very close to the highway bridge during the entire observation period. Additional Common Goldeneye were approximately 1/2 kilometre, as a raft, downstream. Overcast with a rain / snow mix and temperature showing +2 Celsius. Typically there are construction workers present on as well as near the bridge coupled with regular heavy-truck traffic given that work continues on the generating station. Since this was a Sunday, there were no workers and little traffic of any kind. The birds showed some awareness of the observers but seemed content to remain close to the roadway. Notably, when the Barrow’s Goldeneye was observed and compared with the other birds it was seen to have: (a) a mostly orange bill, fading to black near the base and with a touch of black at the tip; (b) a darker head (almost black versus chocolate) than the other birds; and (c) a larger, heavier looking body, again when compared with the other birds. Page 36 in The Sibley Guide to the Birds (2nd Ed.) illustrates these bill and head colour differences as well as noting a larger avg. body weight of the Barrow’s that, presumably, relates to the body size difference that may be seen in the photos. BAGOs have been seen and reported at this location in the past.

Additional species

• Common Goldeneye Bucephala clangula

Technical information

Model

COOLPIX P900

ISO

560

Focal length

357 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/125 sec

Dimensions

3600 pixels x 2499 pixels

Original file size

1.05 MB