I knew he was a Goldeneye when I saw his “golden” eye in the sunlight as he swam around Lake Estes with his mate. He was just beautiful. They are common on lakes and inland waters during the winter. But this is the first I’ve seen this winter.
Goldeneyes are frequently called “whistlers” because the wind whistles through their wings when they fly by.
The first photograph is of a male Goldeneye and the second photograph was of a female Goldeneye. Notice how drastically different they are in color. They were pretty far out on the lake, but I think you can get a pretty good idea of what they look like. Beautiful, don’t you think?
Have you ever seen one?
Stunning photographs so demonstrative of nature’s exquisite design which achieves so well its goal of guaranteeing the survival of its awesomely varied, adaptive and gorgeous creatures. In this case the
flamboyant male to attract the female and the camouflaged female to safeguard the eggs in the nest from predators.