Barrow's Goldeneye

Barrow's Goldeneye (Bucephala islandica) is a medium-sized sea duck of the genus Bucephala, the goldeneyes.

Adults are similar in appearance to the Common Goldeneye. Adult males have a dark head with a purplish gloss and a white crescent at the front of the face. Adult females have a yellow bill.

Their breeding habitat is wooded lakes and ponds primarily in northwestern North America but also in scattered locations in eastern Canada and Iceland. They nest in cavities in trees, also in burrows or protected sites on the ground.

They are migratory and most winter in protected coastal waters or open inland waters. It is an extremely rare vagrant to western Europe.

These diving birds forage underwater. They eat aquatic insects, crustaceans and pond vegetation.

This goldeneye tends not to share habitat with the much more numerous Common Goldeneye.

This bird was named after Sir John Barrow.