Northeast Goldeneyes (My Friday contribution for Tod)

Michael B

Michael B

Active member
Just kidding Tod. The thread about sea duck hunting has me thinking about what I see in Upstate New York regarding goldeneyes. I didn't want to hijack the sea duck thread.

I believe that goldeneyes, like from what I hear about eiders, scoters, and old squaw, take an extra year or two to mature before breeding. I would assume, therefore, that harvest from hunting could take a more pronounced toll on them.

With that said, we do a lot of diver hunting. We target bluebills and redheads but with a limit of 2 each around here, don't pass on goldeneyes, bufflehead, etc. Mergansers get a pass. But, for the last probably 5 or 6 years I'd estimate that we've seen about a 50% drop in goldeneye numbers, at least. Last season notwithstanding, the previous two winters were frigid and we still didn't see as many of them.

Anyone else in the Northeast (or elsewhere) experience a decrease in goldeneyes like what I've seen?

Mike
 
This year was really slow on goldeneye here in NJ but I blame that almost entirely on the unbelievably warm weather. The two years prior however is the most goldeneye I have ever seen here. Those years we had colder than normal years so that could be a reason for the dramatic increase. Any possibility that it's just been the dramatic weather these past few years that is responsible for the altered level of birds you have been seeing in the recent past?
 
I really don't target them, but while out hunting for bluebills I'm seeing fewer whistlers on the Canadian side of Lake Ontario, same thing with buffies. On the other hand, we certainly see way more scoters then we use to.
 
I have seen a huge drop off in goldeneye numbers over the twenty five years. In the early nineties they were commonplace in Southern New England in December and January. Now I see them only in ones and twos. Buffleheads are still common but the red breasted mergansers have followed a similar drop off to goldeneyes.

I agree that all of these species are similar in reproductive maturity. Clutch size is a bit larger than eiders.
 
They are cavity nesters too, so they have less hen & egg mortality than puddlers during nesting season. But this is offset by later maturity and a little smaller clutch size.
 
I've had similar observations with the whistlers Mike, but thought it may have been due to me hunting different lakes. Lately we've mostly hunted on Cayuga and up along Ontario. When I used to frequent Onondaga and Oneida 10+ years ago they were a big part of the bag. Where do you usually hunt?
 
Here the whistlers seem to (1) arrive very late in the season, often close to Christmas, at least on the coast; and (2) when they show up, do so in large numbers.

Some years--especially before our coastal season was extended into early January--we'd barely see any. Other years with an earlier freeze we'd see a pile of them the last week or so of the season.

Unlike eiders, I don't see much directed harvest on whistlers. I'm one of the few people I know who sets up for them on purpose, and usually only a few days a year.

It seems like things are different over on Lake Champlain, with a longer tradition of whistler hunting.
 
I see flocks of them daily during the migration. They are the last to leave and the first to arrive in spring. Sounds like it may be a tale of east vs. west.
 
The GEs didn't show up here on the big lake in any numbers until after x-mas but when the did they were so thick you could walk across them
 
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