The Urban Pantheist

A tundra swan fusses and feeds while a common goldeneye preens himself.

This male goldeneye on Pleasure Bay in South Boston makes the reason for his common name quite plain. Photos by cottonmanifesto

Urban species #337: Common goldeneye Bucephala clangula

Pleasure Bay is an artificially enclosed and stilled body of water adjacent to South Boston. In the summer, city dwellers can walk on the sand--tons of it brought to the site to create a beach--and swim in the placid water. In winter there is much less human use of the bay, except by those who enjoy a stroll along the path, and those who enjoy watching birds. Birds visit year-round, with many species occurring mainly in the colder months, migrating to Boston from further north.

The common goldeneye can be found on salt or fresh water. It dives to catch its prey, mainly crustaceans. Females exhibit breeding behavior which may seem strange to us. They nest in cavities in trees, sometimes quite a distance from water. Some female goldeneyes lay eggs in other goldeneye nests as well as their own, and some lay all their eggs in other goldeneye nests. This variably parasitic behavior is currently being studied--probably different ecological conditions favor different levels of parasitism. Even stranger, sometimes goldeneyes lay eggs in the nests of other species of tree-nesting ducks, including their close relative the bufflehead, and more distantly related birds such as wood ducks and mergansers.

Urban conditions are not favorable to goldeneye nesting, since they need relatively large trees with cavities in order to successfully breed. However, they will make use of appropriately sized nest boxes.


A male and female common goldeneye forage together on the bay.