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Common Goldeneyes are medium-sized dabbling ducks. Their plumage is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are different. In addition, males have different plumage during the breeding season and in eclipse. The back is black, except two white stripes along the sides and the wings are also black, with large white wing panels and dark-grey flight feathers. breeding male Common Goldeneyes have a glossy greenish-black head (purple depending on the direction of infalling light), with a white patch on the lores. The rest of the front, the flanks and the neck are white. In eclipse the head turns dark grey-brown and the front and sides are vermiculated light- to mid-grey. In transitional stages some males may have the white loral patches, while others don't. Females have cryptic plumage that is similar to males in eclipse. The major differences are that females have a white collar, that the cap on their head is more pointed and that they have yellowish-grey patches near the tip of their bill. Apart from the females tip, both sexes have a triangular-shaped, dark-grey bill. The irises of breeding males are golden, those of females are more greyish-yellow. The legs and feet of both sexes are greyish-orange. Juveniles resemble females, but without the white collar.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Common Goldeneye is available HERE .

Common Goldeneyes are a migratory species that is found on all northern continents and on Iceland. Nominate race "clangula" populates large parts of Europe and Asia, while race "americana" occurs in North America. The breeding ground are in taiga and boreal forest in the northern parts of the continents, while the birds winter in more temperate regions.

In Europe Common Goldeneyes are found as permanent residents in only a few, relatively small regions, most prominently in northern Germany, in the border region to Denmark, the northern half of Poland and a near-coastal area stretching across the Baltic states. Otherwise the only other permanent population is found along the Dnjepr river/lake system in Ukraine. They extend their breeding range into most of Scandinavia and north-eastern Europe (north-western Russia), up to about the polar circle. Their wintering grounds are along the southern Scandinavian and central European North Sea and Atlantic coastline, much of the British Isles and Ireland and also in inland central Europe, from the Bretagne eastward to the Elbe and Oder rivers in Germany. Otherwise they are found along the major river systems of Europe, such as the Danube and the lower Po, but also along the coastline of the Bosporus and all around the Black Sea.

Being a tree hollow-nesting species, Common Goldeneyes breed in taiga and boreal forest. Outside the breeding season, in their winter quarters, they have a preference for protected wetlands, often in coastal areas or along river/lake systems.

Race "clangula"

D. Wilczynska reports spotting Common Goldeneyes, nominate race "clangula", in wetlands along the river Bug, near Brok, Masovia, Poland, in April 2017.

Common Goldeneyes, nominate race "clangula", were found again by D. Wilczynska on Lake Wigry, Mazurias, Poland, in August 2017. All sighting and photographic information presented on this page has been kindly contributed by D. Wilczynska.