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Common goldeneye migration Bucephala clangula
▶ Follow the common goldeneye across the big globe
Press ▶ to play the year. Line: a simplified typical route, joining the main cluster of GBIF records in each month (adjusted for observer effort).
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| Scientific name | Bucephala clangula |
|---|---|
| Wingspan | 70 cm |
| Adult weight | 1 kg (male), 800 g (female) |
| IUCN status | Least concern |
| Records mapped | 5,184,929 (GBIF) |
| GPS / geolocator tracks | none with an open licence yet |
Facts from Wikidata Q29865 (CC0).
When does the common goldeneye arrive in the UK?
A winter visitor in the records: numbers build from late October and stay high until about late March.
Bars: this species’ share of all UK bird records in GBIF (CC0/CC BY), by month, scaled to the peak month. Based on 110,958 UK records. Weekly counts from the GBIF occurrence search API (country=GB). Dates are read from records, not from a survey, so treat them as a guide.
When do they arrive in and leave the UK? →
Migration in the data
5,184,929 GBIF records (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 licences only) are mapped here, in 1.41° grid cells, month by month.
In Europe and Africa, the centre of the records stays between 56°N and 62°N all year: the shift is small at this scale.
Month by month: centre of records in Europe and Africa
| Month | Centre (latitude) | South of the Equator |
|---|---|---|
| January | 56°N | 0% |
| February | 56°N | 0% |
| March | 58°N | 0% |
| April | 60°N | 0% |
| May | 62°N | 0% |
| June | 62°N | 0% |
| July | 62°N | 0% |
| August | 62°N | 0% |
| September | 62°N | 0% |
| October | 60°N | 0% |
| November | 58°N | 0% |
| December | 56°N | 0% |
Tracked birds
No openly licensed (CC0 / CC BY) tracking data package for this species was found in the Movebank Data Repository yet, so only records are shown.
About the common goldeneye
The common goldeneye or simply goldeneye is a medium-sized sea duck of the genus Bucephala, the goldeneyes. Its closest relative is the similar Barrow's goldeneye. The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek boukephalos, a reference to the bulbous head shape of the bufflehead. The species name is derived from the Latin clangere.
From the Wikipedia article “Common goldeneye” (revision 1374022294), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources
GBIF occurrence records, licence CC0 1.0 or CC BY 4.0 only, observations only (no specimens), filtered with: taxonKey=2498326&license=CC0_1_0&license=CC_BY_4_0&occurrenceStatus=PRESENT&hasGeospatialIssue=false&basisOfRecord=HUMAN_OBSERVATION&basisOfRecord=MACHINE_OBSERVATION&basisOfRecord=OBSERVATION. Monthly queries: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec. GBIF.org (23 October 2026) occurrence data accessed via the GBIF API; a GBIF download DOI is still to be added. Contributing datasets.