More Than Just a Duck?

Photographs and words Nick Sidle

Photograph – Goldeneye, Bucephala clangula, Loch Insh, Cairngorms National Park

The Goldeneye is a duck with a striking appearance but a shy manner, it is easily disturbed by people and will readily fly off if approached or alarmed. They feed by diving and are so expert that it has been recorded that a Goldeneye will spend twenty seconds underwater for every very few seconds on the surface, meaning that they often reappear some distance from where they left but only to disappear again almost immediately. It is also recorded that when they are feeding in a flock, at least and frequently more than half of the birds will be underwater at any one time making the group of Goldeneye seem far smaller than it actually is. The result is that if someone disturbs a flock, far more ducks are seen to fly away than appeared to be there in the first place. These two behavioural characteristics earned the name ‘the spirit bird’ in North America, both for the Goldeneye’s close relative the Bufflehead and for the Goldeneye itself.

Photograph – Goldeneye, Bucephala clangula, feeding on crustaceans, here a small crab, Merkinch, Inverness, Highland Scotland

The origin of the name Goldeneye is obvious from their appearance. They have had many other names including references to the whistling sound their wings make in flight, especially in cold weather, and the shape of their heads. One name was the Buffle-headed Garrot, buffle-headed being a reference to the 17th Century name Buffle for the European Bison and the suggested similarity in at least the outline of the heads of the two species. The scientific name for the Goldeneye remains Bucephala clangula continuing this reference, Bucephala translates as bull’s head.

Photograph – European Bison, Bison bonuses, Highland Wildlife Park, Kincraig, the only place to see them in Scotland having been long extinct in the wild. There are however proposals for their eventual reintroduction.

The Goldeneye has been a long standing winter visitor to Scotland but since the 1970’s there has also been a breeding population as well, centred on Badenoch and Strathspey. Some of this has been attributed to a few years then with lower temperatures but most was linked with the provision of nest boxes specifically designed for the Goldeneye. Unfortunately, although not intended to be, they were also very well suited to Pine Martens, which took eggs and young and even moved in to some to set up home themselves. This was such a problem that some nest box schemes for Goldeneye were abandoned.

Photograph – Pine Marten, Martes martes, Glen Convinth, Inverness-shire, Highland Scotland

As if the threat from Pine Martens was not enough, in some places, where the habitat favours the fish, Goldeneye chicks are also believed to be being taken by predatory Pike. This is probably the case at Loch Insh and Insh Marshes, breeding sites for Goldeneye, and where very large Pike are known to be present. Nest boxes for Goldeneye have been moved from the locations identified as favoured by the Pike after the observation that in these areas a disproportionately low number of older Goldeneye chicks were being seen. The origin of the fish is an open question, they are not generally regarded as a local species. One suggestion has been that they were introduced some years ago by fishermen but this is not generally accepted and remains only one possibility. A non native fish project in the area in 2004 reached a consensus that Pike had been in the lochs since at least the 14th Century, possibly as an introduction by the church and monks, or possibly actually as a native species that had not been identified. Further and much later introductions to other sites if they had occurred were then an additional spread of a population. What is far more than just a possibility is that as far as the ducklings are concerned there is a very real danger lurking in the weeds. What the non native fish project decided should be done though is that population control was not a realistic objective however the best case scenario was to have really, really large individual Pike in the water since they actually eat smaller Pike themselves and so the overall number of adult fish each of which is a threat to the Goldeneye chicks would be lower if the largest individuals were present.

Photograph – Pike, Esox Lucius, Leicestershire, England

Whatever the threats the nest boxes were the key though to establishing a breeding population and, overall, the pressures from Pine Martens and Pike were a problem but did not halt the establishment of a breeding Goldeneye population. Many of Scotland’s lochs provide an ideal aquatic habitat for Goldeneye but the surrounding forests failed to offer enough good nesting sites, they are a tree nesting species looking for a cavity in old tree trunks with a large enough entrance hole for the adults to get through and a deep enough chamber to provide a home. Something that has been noted with successful nest boxes is that many are adopted by specific birds, who return to them in subsequent years

Photograph – Goldeneye, Bucephala clangula, Loch Insh, Cairngorms National Park

In Celtic folklore, the development of all ducks to be adept on both land and in the water as well as in the air meant they were seen as personifying a balance between the physical and the spiritual, between the mobility of water, the stability of the land and the ethereal world of the air. So, the Goldeneye, more than just a duck? Possibly not, but if by being a duck you are the epitome of balance between the temporal and spiritual realms and by being a very particular duck you are ‘the spirit bird’, who needs to be.

With thanks to Pete Moore for the information on the threats from Pike

Photograph – Goldeneye, Bucephala clangula, Loch Insh, Cairngorms National Park