When:

Who:

Where:

County:

Location:

Exact Site:
Cove Road, Reservoir #4

Details: (To view more text, grab the lower-right corner of a field to widen or lengthen the box)

For older records, view original documentation here.

How Many:

Age/Plumage/Sex:
adult female

Habitat:
reservoir, on water

Distance from bird:
80 feet on 13th, maybe 200 ft. on 15th

Viewing Conditions:
cloudy, 42 degrees, seen through bush branches, as it was close to the shore

Optics Used:
Kowa 80 mm scope with 20-60 Zoom eyepiece, set at 50X

Description:
The duck had a rich smooth brown, over-sized head, with the feathers making a fairly sharp angle at the back of the head, just barely above the back of the bird. (That head shape was a feature also noted by Roy Ickes, when he saw the bird on the evening of the 13th, more or less silhouetted). The body of the duck was entirely gray, though slightly mottled, with one or two white marks along the edge of the folded wing, depending on the different times it came up from diving. The bill was basically ochre-yellow, a little grayish at the base with a smudgy blackish tip, but about 80% of the bill was yellow. Sorry, but I did not record the forehead shape.

Behavior:
When first seen (viewed for about 5 minutes at first) the duck was close to the shore at the edge of ice, diving repeatedly, about 20 seconds up, then perhaps 30 seconds down each time. As I tried to get a better view (instead of looking through a few bush branches) and a photo, I walked down the road then tried to get back to the lake, unsuccessfully, but by the time I regained my original position on the shore 10 minutes later, the duck had moved further out into the lake somewhat near a flock of 14 Ring-necked Ducks, still diving frequently.

Separation from similar species:
Mainly from most of the bill being well more than mostly yellow, with a smudgy blackish tip, but the sharp angle in the feathers at the back of the head was a contributing factor.

Discussion:
The initial observation on Jan. 13, when I failed to get a photo, was followed by another sighting on Jan. 15, when I obtained photos (made by jamming a cell phone up against my scope). This second observation was made in sunshine and thin clouds at 12:15-12:30. While observing this bird this second time, near a female Bufflehead, another Goldeneye female flew in, clearly a Common Goldeneye with solid black bill. I have photos of all three Bucephalae at the same spot on the lake (as the reeds show) made then. The yellow-beaked bird was diving more frequently than the black-beaked bird, though both were diving repeatedly, which made photography hard. I did see both Goldeneyes together still noting the head shape difference and the bill color difference. I would also say that the bird with yellow on the beak had a richer brown to the head than the black-billed bird.

How positive are you about the identification:
The photos complicate rather than clarify the identification. On Jan. 14th, John Flannigan had been to the reservoir and photographed a female goldeneye with yellow-tipped bill (photo enclosed--the bird on water with no reeds nearby). From the restricted amount of yellow in the side view and the rounded shape of the back of the head, I would say his photo was not of the yellow-billed bird I saw on the 13th and the 15th, nor was it of the female Common Goldeneye with the entirely black bill on the 15th, pictured alongside the Bufflehead in my photo. But, relatively uncommon as any Goldeneye is on that lake, why should three be present in three days? You can see from my photos that the yellow-billed bird (side view) does not look in head shape or amount of yellow on the beak like Flannigan's bird. Yet the bill in that photo looks impossibly massive, as if it extends at the base back to the eye, not a feature I noted on the bird seen on the 13th or one that I can gather from the more front view of the yellow-billed goldeneye.

References:

During the observation:
none

After the observation:
Sibley, but not until I had written my notes down.

Media:

Photos and Drawings