Goldeneye Ducks
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Goldeneye are small tree-hole nesting northern hemisphere seaducks belonging to the genus Bucephala. Their plumage is black and white, and they eat fish, crustaceans and other marine life.
The Bufflehead was formerly separated in its own genus Charitonetta, while the goldeneyes proper were mistakenly placed in Clangula, the genus of the Long-tailed Duck which at that time was placed in Harelda.
The three living species are:
- Common Goldeneye Bucephala clangula
- Barrow's Goldeneye Bucephala islandica
- Bufflehead Bucephala albeola
Known fossil taxa are:
- Bucephala cereti (Sajóvölgyi Middle Miocene of Mátraszõlõs, Hungary - Late Pliocene of Chilhac, France)
- Bucephala ossivalis (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of Bone Valley, USA), which was very similar to the Common Goldeneye and may even have been a paleosubspecies or direct ancestor
- Bucephala fossilis (Late Pliocene of California, USA)
- Bucephala angustipes (Early Pleistocene of C Europe)
- Bucephala sp. (Early Pleistocene of Dursunlu, Turkey: Louchart et al. 1998)
Copyright: Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from: Wikipedia.org)
Diet / Feeding:
Common Goldeneyes typically forage underwater. They eat crustaceans, aquatic insects and small fish.
Ducks generally feed on larvae and pupae often found under rocks, as well as aquatic animals, plant material, seeds, small fish, snails and crabs.
Feeding Ducks ...
We all enjoy ducks and many of us offer them food to encourage them to come over and stay around - and it works! Who doesn't like an easy meal!
However, the foods that we traditionally feed them at local ponds are utterly unsuitable for them and are likely to cause health problems down the road. Also, there may be local laws against feeding this species of bird - so it's best to check on that rather than facing consequences at a later stage.
- Click here to find out which foods to feed them that will offer the nutrition they need to survive a cold winter and remain healthy
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