Barrow's Goldeneye ♂
This is the promised photo from yesterday's post of a Common Goldeneye drake. This is the "other" Goldeneye, a Barrow's Goldeneye drake which I read as "scarce" according to the Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America.
I had never seen either the Common or Barrow's Goldeneye duck before moving to Alaska and this last fall and early this spring I was treated to opportunities to capture shots of immature males and females but never the adult males. When I was at Spenard Crossing in Anchorage the other day I could see that there were some adult Goldeneye drakes but they were so far away, so I took a chance and walked through a treacherous area to get to a spit of land closer to these ducks. It paid off handsomely as I managed, much to my surprise, to capture both the Common and Barrow's drakes. This photo is the adult Barrow's drake. I posted the Common drake last night and put a small photo in the comment section below so you can see the differences between them.
By the way, that is ice in the background. Spenard Crossing has much less ice than Westchester Lagoon right now, but there is still quite a bit of it.
Taken 19 April 2018 at Spenard Crossing, Anchorage, Alaska.
Barrow's Goldeneye ♂
This is the promised photo from yesterday's post of a Common Goldeneye drake. This is the "other" Goldeneye, a Barrow's Goldeneye drake which I read as "scarce" according to the Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America.
I had never seen either the Common or Barrow's Goldeneye duck before moving to Alaska and this last fall and early this spring I was treated to opportunities to capture shots of immature males and females but never the adult males. When I was at Spenard Crossing in Anchorage the other day I could see that there were some adult Goldeneye drakes but they were so far away, so I took a chance and walked through a treacherous area to get to a spit of land closer to these ducks. It paid off handsomely as I managed, much to my surprise, to capture both the Common and Barrow's drakes. This photo is the adult Barrow's drake. I posted the Common drake last night and put a small photo in the comment section below so you can see the differences between them.
By the way, that is ice in the background. Spenard Crossing has much less ice than Westchester Lagoon right now, but there is still quite a bit of it.
Taken 19 April 2018 at Spenard Crossing, Anchorage, Alaska.