The Common Goldeneye is a hardy diving duck of cold open water, named for its piercing golden-yellow eye. The drake is boldly patterned — a dark, green-glossed head marked with a single round white spot at the base of the bill, over a gleaming white body — while the female is gray-bodied with a rich chocolate-brown head. In flight their wings produce a distinctive whistling sound that carries across the water, earning them the old hunters' name "whistlers."
Goldeneyes breed in tree cavities across the boreal forest, with a small number nesting in northern Michigan, and they winter on the state's larger lakes, rivers, and Great Lakes bays wherever water stays open. Late winter brings one of the great duck spectacles as drakes begin their courtship display — throwing the head sharply back onto the rump and kicking up a splash while giving a rasping call. Small flocks dive in unison for insect larvae, crustaceans, and mollusks.
Dives for aquatic invertebrates — insect larvae, crustaceans, and mollusks — and some small fish, foraging on lake and river bottoms and among rocks. On the Great Lakes it feeds heavily on crustaceans and mollusks, staying through winter wherever open water and food remain.
The wings of the Common Goldeneye produce a distinctive whistling sound in flight, audible even at a distance. Waterfowl hunters long ago nicknamed the bird the "whistler" for it.
The goldeneye is larger, with a bright golden eye and a round white spot at the base of the bill on a green-glossed head. The much smaller Bufflehead has a big white wedge wrapping behind the eye and a puffier head.
In late winter and early spring, courting drakes snap the head far back onto the rump and thrust it forward with a kick and a rasping call. Groups of males often display together near females.
Immatures and females have a chocolate-brown head with no white cheek spot and a duller eye. Young males show a partial, blurry version of the white spot during their first winter as they molt in.
A raft. In late winter, rafts break into courting groups where males throw their heads back over their backs in a display that gives the species its old name of whistler.
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