Barrow's Goldeneye in St. Louis County
2013-03-25

'Rare Regular' in Minnesota

This male Barrow's Goldeneye was found at Canal Park this morning by Mike Furtman, and we both noticed that it appeared to be paired with the adjoining female Common Goldeneye in this photo. This female Common followed the Barrow's wherever he went. Interestingly, I also found a female Barrow's Goldeneye in the same raft of goldeneyes, but she showed no interest in the male Barrow's and he showed no interest in her (see next photo). This male Barrow's is apparently the same male that has wintered in the Duluth harbor for five consecutive winters, usually appearing in November (but not appearing until 25 December this winter), and disappearing in March or early April, with the dates of last occurrence being 8 March 2009, 16 March 2010, 8 April 2011, and 1 April 2012. This photo shows the unique, severely truncated spur on the foreflanks of this particular individual (in many Barrow's, the dark spur nearly reaches the water line on swimming birds). Seeing the male Barrow's paired with a female Common was perhaps not that surprising, since there is generally a severe shortage of female Barrow's Goldeneyes in this area, and we have documented hybrid male Barrow's X Common Goldeneyes at this location.

Karl J. Bardon