Summary
- Natural history: The courting displays of the male Common Goldeneye are a familiar sight on Vermont’s lakes each winter, when 3,000 to 7,000 birds gather here, but nearly all move on to breed farther north, leaving only a small, cavity-nesting population clustered around northern Lake Champlain. That population must share limited tree cavities with Wood Ducks and Hooded Mergansers, both of which have surged since the First Atlas, and while atlas block occupancy fell sharply, state nest-box monitoring found fairly steady numbers, suggesting lakeshore development or a change in survey methods, rather than an outright crash, may explain some of the decline.
- Status in VT: Decreased by 40% (10 to 6 blocks). Decrease occurred in Champlain Valley.
- Data from other research: VTFWD nest box data show constant numbers between atlases.
- Conservation status: State rank S2B; S5N
- Other atlases: NY: 29%; ON: non-significant increase
- VT’s role in North American range: VT is on the southeastern edge of the range.
- Causes of change since first Atlas:Competition with fish for invertebrate prey (e.g., see Mallory et al. 1994); competition with Wood Duck and Hooded Merganser for nest cavities; lakeshore development (?); increases in human activity (?); disruption of ecosystem by zebra mussel (?).
- Management/Monitoring recommendations: Documented decrease should be investigated; standard safe dates were not employed during first Atlas, leaving the possibility that late migrants were recorded as Possible or Probable breeders.
First Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas (1976-1981)
Second Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas (2003 – 2007)
Change in Distribution
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