Common Goldeneyes Mating

At 8am March 27, 2023 from the Kilowatt South boat launch in Wilder, VT, I photographed a sequence of Common Goldeneyes copulating in the Connecticut River.  The early morning light was harsh and almost directly at me.  I include here a sequence of nine photos, even though some are not sharp and one is very out-of-focus.

The time duration from the first photo to the seventh photo was 13 seconds.  The nineth photo was taken 10 seconds after the seventh. The eighth photo is simply a crop of the seventh photo. 

In this first photo I took of the sequence, the male is rapidly swimming toward the female.  Its bow wake is obvious.  As is common, the female initiated the copulatory sequence by assuming a prone position on the river.

Below, the male arrives at the female.

In this very out-of-focus photo, the male appears to mount the female.

About one second later the pair has rotated, and the male is reaching for the neck of the female who appears to be completely submerged below him.

The male holds the neck/head of the female.

The female rises in the water while the male still holds her neck. At this point the male has rotated about 270 degrees from first reaching the female.

One second after the previous photo, they have parted.  

The raised part of the female’s head can still be seen in the photo below which is a crop of the photo above.

The male holds his head stiffly vertical, crest expanded, and swims away quickly.  You can see its bow wake.