Bucephala islandica
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Barrow's goldeneye (Bucephala islandica) is a medium-sized sea duck of the genus Bucephala, the goldeneyes. This bird was named after Sir John Barrow. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek boukephalos, "bullheaded", from bous, "bull" and kephale, "head", a reference to the bulbous head shape of the bufflehead. The species name islandica means Iceland.
Barrow's goldeneye was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the ducks, geese and swans in the genus Anas and coined the binomial name Anas islandica. Gmelin based his description on the "Hravn Oend" that had been briefly described in 1776 by Danish naturalist Otto Friedrich Müller. Barrow's goldeneye is now placed with the common goldeneye and the bufflehead in the genus Bucephala that was introduced in 1858 by American naturalist Spencer Baird. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek boukephalos, meaning "bullheaded", from bous "bull", and kephale, "head". The specific epithet islandica is for Iceland. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
Adults... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yellowstone National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Wrangell-St. Elias National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Jasper National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Grand Teton National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Katmai National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Kluane National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Glacier National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Great Bear Rainforest | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 9 | Denali National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Vatnajokull National Park | 🇮🇸 Iceland | |
| 11 | Elk Island National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 12 | Banff National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 13 | Kenai Fjords National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Cape Breton Highlands National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 15 | Pacific Rim National Park Reserve | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 16 | Olympic National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 17 | Redwood National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 18 | Rocky Mountain National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 19 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anchorage | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 3 | Calgary | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Salt Lake City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Sacramento | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Denver | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 10 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Disney's Animal Kingdom | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Walsrode World Bird Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 4 | Slimbridge Wetland Centre | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | Fort Worth Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Tierpark Hagenbeck | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 7 | Cleres Zoological Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 8 | Lincoln Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Biotropica | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 10 | Queens Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 11 | Stone Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | Salisbury Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 13 | Tracy Aviary | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Montreal Biodome | 🇨🇦 Canada |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Barrow's Goldeneye sighting in Calgary on a given day, based on 1,633 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 81st most-seen of the 259 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and February
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Barrow's Goldeneye in Calgary on a given day, against under 5% in May to October, the lowest months. Those are among Calgary's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain a month against 120 mm in June.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Barrow's Goldeneye sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 13 cities where we can rate Barrow's Goldeneye sightings, Calgary ranks 3rd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Anchorage (United States, about 10%) and Vancouver (Canada, about 10%).
Same genus: Bucephala
The closest relatives of the Barrow's Goldeneye that you can see in Calgary (genus Bucephala, Goldeneyes and Bufflehead) are Common Goldeneye (about 50%) and Bufflehead (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Barrow's Goldeneye is recorded against all the birds logged in Calgary (1,633 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
