Common Goldeneye Bucephala clangula 鵲鴨
Category I. Accidental.
IDENTIFICATION
40-50 cm. Medium in size with a large domed head, short bill, pale eyes and, in flight, a large area of white in the wing and a white belly.
Breeding plumage male has green-glossed dark head with distinctive oval white spot at base of bill, white neck, chest and flanks, dark upperparts and tail.
Female has brown head, greyish chest and flanks, brown upperparts and tail. Young birds similar but with dull iris. Adult male eclipse has large area of white on forewing.
VOCALISATIONS
Not a vocal species away from the breeding grounds. In flight, a loud, low-pitched whistle accompanies each wing beat.
The female gives a low, slightly nasal call similar to Tufted Duck.
DISTRIBUTION & HABITAT PREFERENCE
Has occurred at Mai Po NR and Plover Cove Reservoir.
OCCURRENCE
1982: a female at Mai Po from 31 December 1981 to 24 January 1982.
1997: five over Plover Cove Reservoir on 4 January 1997.
Herklots (1932) reported that one shot in Deep Bay on 6 November 1932 was sent to him for identification, but nothing further remains to substantiate this record.
BEHAVIOUR, FORAGING & DIET
No observations.
RANGE & SYSTEMATICS
The nominate form occurs in Europe and Asia, including HK, while B. c. americana occurs in the New World. Breeds from northern Europe across Eurasia to Kamchatka and in Canada and Alaska south of the Arctic Circle to around 50oN. Winters in northwest and southeast Europe, eastern Central Asia, China, Japan and coastally around Kamchatka, and in much of the U.S.A. south to approximately 30oN (Eadie et al. 2020). In China breeds in the northern Xinjiang, northern Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang and winters east of a line from Jilin to Yunnan (Liu and Chen 2020).
CONSERVATION STATUS
IUCN: Least Concern. Population trend stable.
Eadie, J. M., M. L. Mallory, and H. G. Lumsden (2020). Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.comgol.01.
Herklots, G. A. C. (1932). Notes and Comments. Ornithology. Hong Kong Naturalist 3: 280-283.
Liu, Y. and Y. H. Chen (eds) (2020). The CNG Field Guide to the Birds of China (in Chinese). Hunan Science and Technology Publication House, Changsha.
