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page.Goldeneye
Bucephala clangula
The goldeneye is found throughout northern Europe and in central Europe in the Bohemian part of Czechoslovakia and Switzerland. It winters in western, central, southern and southeastern Europe on lakes, ponds and rivers, even in cities. The nest is generally located right by the water. The birds begin pairing in their wintering grounds and continue courting in their breeding territories, where they return as soon as the ice thaws. The female seeks out the nesting cavity, followed then by the male. The cavity is often one used the previous year but it may be a new one as well. Tree holes chosen for a nesting site are usually 2.5 to 5 metres above the ground. Often the nest is sited in an old nest hole of the black woodpecker. In April to May the female lays six to eleven eggs in the bottom of the cavity, which she only rarely lines with bits of moss. However, the eggs are surrounded with soft down. The female incubates by herself for 27 to 32 days. When the newly hatched ducklings have dried out they jump out of the nest, usually landing in soft grass or water unharmed. Food is obtained mostly in the water and consists of insects and their larvae, worms, molluscs, crustaceans as well as small fish and to a lesser extent green vegetation and seeds. The goldeneye dives to depths of as much as nine metres.
Click on any of the other bird links, these are Geese Barnacle Goose : Brent Goose : Canada Goose : Greylag Goose
Or on the Ducks: Gadwall : Goldeneye : Goosander : Mallard : Pintail : Pochard : Red Breasted Merganser : Red Crested Pochard : Shellduck : Shoveler : Teal : Tufted Duck : Wigeon
And the rest, in no real order of importance: Common Sandpiper : Coot. : Corncrake : Curlew. : Dunlin : Greenshank : Lapwing : Moorhen : Oystercatcher : Redshank : Ringed Plover : Snipe : Spotted Crake : Stone Curlew : Turnstone : Whimbrel : Woodcock.
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