Barrow's Goldeneye
Bucephala islandica
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumChordata (Chordates)
- ClassAves (Birds)
- OrderAnseriformes (Waterfowl)
- FamilyAnatidae (Ducks, Geese, and Swans)
- GenusBucephala (Goldeneyes and Bufflehead)
- SpeciesBucephala islandica (Barrow's Goldeneye)
About the Barrow's Goldeneye
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 →
Closest Relatives at Saguaro National Park
Bufflehead
Bucephala albeola
Common Goldeneye
Bucephala clangula
Mallard
Anas platyrhynchos
American Wigeon
Mareca americana
Ring-necked Duck
Aythya collaris
Northern Shoveler
Spatula clypeata
Ruddy Duck
Oxyura jamaicensis
Cinnamon Teal
Spatula cyanoptera
Common Teal
Anas crecca
Northern Pintail
Anas acuta
Gadwall
Mareca strepera
Mexican Duck
Anas diazi
Global Distribution
Where this species is recorded worldwide. Restricted to human observations from 2019 onwards — the same kind of record and the same period the probabilities on this page are built from, so collar-tracking studies, camera-trap arrays and museum specimens are excluded. Around Santa Rosa that removes 5,924 GPS fixes from a handful of tagged jaguars.
where this species is recorded (GBIF density — it tracks where observers go, not how likely a sighting is) · parks where it occurs — tap a pin for the sighting probability there