A Somewhat Rare Visitor on the Tuolumne Parkway Trail: Common Goldeneyes

Now just to be clear, I mean "rare" in the sense that they haven't been seen on this stretch of the Tuolumne River where it flows through Waterford. The Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) is certainly a common bird across the country, and has been reported upstream around Modesto and Turlock Lakes, and downstream around Modesto and the San Joaquin River. But in the last ten years at least (according to eBird), it hasn't been reported anywhere in between.

A Wood Duck (left) joined the flock on one day last week

I first saw just one of them swimming in one of the pools at the water treatment plant where I got the only close-up photo (above). That was on January 3. On subsequent walks I saw as many as five at once, but within a week the flock was up to 17 or 18, with a mix of males and females. Another birder (the only other one to mention Goldeneyes) reported six of them on January 10. At least three were still on the river today, but some may have flown off when I arrived in the area.

I couldn't look at the Goldeneyes and not think about the excitement among birders to the north on the Stanislaus River at Knight's Ferry. There has been a flock of Common Goldeneyes there since about Christmastime, and with them has been a Barrow's Goldeneye. That is a species that has only rarely been sighted in our county, as we are situated at the extreme southern edge of their normal range. It has not been reported since the 10th of January, so you can be sure I was watching carefully to see if it decided to fly just a bit further south!

There have been a number of flocks hanging out on my section of the river lately...today there were five Pied-billed Grebes downstream at the west end of the Parkway Trail. A gaggle of about twenty Canada Geese rested briefly near the slough today. And I saw a flock of five ducks, either Goldeneyes or Wood Ducks, taking off near the water treatment plant.