don't you just love it when you spot a bird you've never seen before and think maybe it's a special observation you had just accomplished but when you go to identify it you learn the name begins with Common... well that's how i felt when i spotted these Common Goldeneyes Bucephala clangula. though their range may spread across much of the northern hemisphere, i can assure you that in my area they are anything but common. so i was very happy to spot these in the middle of February along the Skagerrak coast of Norway. Presumably they had migrated from an inland lake that had frozen but they did not stay in my area for long.
though they don't look particularly streamlined, they are in fact diving ducks. it's hard to imagine them swimming fast enough to catch fish. appropriately they stay mostly on lakes and feed on aquatic insects, of which there are not so many in the sea here. that may be the reason i have only seen them this one time. during migration they seek coastal areas so they eat whatever they can catch of crustaceans, molluscs or whatever. in the warmer part of the year, lakes without fish competing with their prey may be a good place to find them.
