MA - Goldeneyes - Barrow's and an 'orange billed' Common

Barrow's Goldeneye - female, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. February 27th, 2017.

Mark Taylor recently posted news of a female Barrow's Goldeneye at the Turner's Falls power canal and, as species and an identification that's always interested me, I was especially keen to go down and take a look. Recent winters have been very good for Barrow's Goldeneye at Turner's Falls but this winter, for some weird reason, has been inexplicably poor. In fact, despite checking the goldeneye roost at the power canal on many evenings from December through February, I couldn't come up with a single individual Barrow's Goldeneye, male or female. The only certain local report that I knew of was from Eric Huston on January 22nd when he saw a male at Bennett Meadow in Northfield. The situation has also been clouded by the presence of a couple of female Common Goldeneyes showing atypically yellowish bill coloration.

Common Goldeneye - female with aberrant (?) dull orange-yellow bill, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. February 27th, 2017.

Common Goldeneyes (females) - individual with orange-yellow bill (left), Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. February 27th, 2017.

Potentially a pitfall for female Barrow's - can a hybrid could be excluded? I'm not sure.

Mark's post had seemingly generated very little interest but it had certainly intrigued me! When I arrived at the power canal the first female goldeneye that surfaced was a Common with a dull orange-yellow bill. But with over a dozen goldeneyes frequently diving right in front of me, I patiently went through them all. I knew Mark Taylor to be a careful observer and thought it unlikely that he'd get turned around by a Common Goldeneye with a aberrant bill coloration. A few moments later, a goldeneye surfaced right next to the guard rail, a mere 10 meters from where I was standing - it was a beautiful female Barrow's! For a good fifteen minutes I was treated to point blank views in the exact spot that Mark had described. In fact, it was so close to the guard rail that I would surely have missed it had I sat in my car and scanned without leaving the vehicle.

Barrow's Goldeneye - female, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. February 27th, 2017.

A beautiful bird and the only Barrow's Goldeneye that I've seen at Turner's Falls the entire winter. Thanks and kudos to Mark Taylor for his report.