Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA
This was the first article I wrote and published after I came to California (for the Golden Gate Audubon Gull, April 1991, slightly edited and re-written). I lived in Oakland at the time, up the hill from Lake Merritt, in the Adam’s Point section. It was great to have such a birdy spot so close by. I was a regular at the lake, and got to know its birds very well. It’s a great spot in the winter, when thousands of wintering waterbirds are there. The Barrow’s Goldeneye are part of this noisy avian spectacle.
I think when anyone writes about nature, there’s always a battle going on in his/her mind. How much of yourself do you put in? Should it be objective or subjective? Is the story about nature itself, or about your interaction with nature? How much reflection, poetry or philosophy do you put in? Think of Thoreau: for every scientific observation he makes, he has several lines of reflection or commentary. I suppose the best nature writing contains both. This little piece is primarily ‘scientific,’ if lightweight and relatively colorless. It’s not much as literature, but it does give some information about this little duck and where it can be seen locally. With a new baby under my belt (courtesy of my wife, of course) and looking for a job, I was happy to finish it and get it published -- great literature or not. I was the new kid on the birders’ block, and I wanted to get my name out there.
Barrow’s Goldeneye at Lake Merritt
Totally unexpected as one drives through downtown Oakland, a large beautiful lake suddenly stretches out before you – Lake Merritt. Although this 155-acre salt water estuary is in the middle of the largest city in the East Bay, it is a complete and fairly healthy ecosystem. It is home to many kinds of invertebrates and fish, a heron rookery and site of California’s first wildlife refuge (established 1870). Additionally, from October through March, it is a birder’s paradise. (A recent Christmas bird count noted 58 different bird species). Besides eight species of overwintering ducks (occasionally more), several kinds of grebes, gulls, geese and herons, occasional loons, sandpipers and terns – with total numbers in the thousands – this lake is the best spot I know of in the Bay Area to see the elusive Barrow’s Goldeneye.
Barrow’s Goldeneye (Bucephala islandica), one of the two goldeneye species, is a mid-size diving duck of the tribe Aythyini, named after their tiny bright yellow eyes. The males of both species (Common and Barrow’s) have elegant back and white plumage, each with iridescent color glosses on their heads (purple in the Barrow’s, green in the Common). The first thing people look for, of course, is the white spots on the heads of the males: oval in the Common, and tear-drop shaped in the Barrow’s. A line of white spots is found only on the back of the Barrow’s. Females of the species appear identical, especially at a distance. However, if either species is seen fairly close, you might recognize the subtle differences of shape in the head and the bill. The common name “Barrow’s” is in honor of Sir Joseph Barrow (1764-1848), the British explorer and geographer of the great age of British navigation and natural science discovery. I believe the “islandica” refers to the fact that it was discovered and collected first off the coast of Iceland.
One of the features that makes birding at Lake Merritt so much fun (and a bird photographer’s dream) is the chance to see ducks, herons, coots, grebes and gulls at relatively close range. Quite often Ruddies, Bufflehead and goldeneye are within 50 yards. A chance to see either of the goldeneye at this range, with their elegant, satiny black and white finery, is a real treat. The scaup, canvasback and mallards will be right under your feet as they noisily queue up near the Nature Center for their daily grain rations. Rations or not, they will swim up to greet you if you go near the water.
During the winter one can also see the courtship displays of the goldeneye, as they prepare for mating later in the spring at their breeding grounds. Males and females pair off and swim close together, males throwing their heads backward as the females thrust their heads forward. In general, behavior of the two goldeneye species at the lake does not differ very much: they swim individually or in small groups of both sexes, or unceremoniously dive to the shallow lake bottom for their diet of mollusks, crustaceans or plant food.
Rex Burress, a naturalist at the Lake Merritt Rotary Nature Center and long-time observer of duck populations at the lake, says that, in general, goldeneye numbers have been increasing over the last 70 years. For example, the 1923 Christmas Count showed no goldeneye of either species at all, while in 1934 Commons were at 75 with Barrow’s not found. In 1980, however, 324 Commons were observed, with only 11 Barrow’s. In 1989 there was a three-to-one ratio between the species (59 Common, 21 Barrow’s). Last year’s Christmas Count showed the Common species five times more numerous than Barrow’s (75 to 15). Rex believes some birds may have been missed at the last count, with actual numbers in the range of 200 Common to 40 Barrow’s. Given the more northerly winter distribution of the Barrow’s, the Common Goldeneye have presumably always been more prevalent at the lake. (Data courtesy of Rex Burress.)
Part of the excitement of seeing Barrow’s Goldeneye for me is remembering what an ordeal it was to see them (or not) back east. I vividly recall the winter about five years ago when I stood at the edge of a lagoon in Rye, N.Y., scanning mixed flocks of ducks with my scope. It was a bitterly cold, overcast day, about 20 degrees, with a fierce wind off Long Island Sound making the apparent temperature closer to zero. I slowly scanned the flocks of Common Goldeneye, scaup and Canvasback, tears streaming down my cheeks from the wind, cold numbing my fingers and freezing my scope’s focusing mechanism. I hoped against hope that hidden in the flocks would be the coveted Barrow’s. Needless to say, I didn’t see them. Here, last November, walking on the edge of Lake Merritt in my shirtsleeves, in what Californians call “winter” (sun blazing away, runners in tiny jogging shorts passing by), I noticed my first beautiful male Barrow’s, swimming serenely not more than 80 feet away.
No source I have consulted knows exactly what it is about Lake Merritt that makes it such a great spot to see wintering Barrow’s Goldeneye. No doubt it is some combination of sheltered water, relative protection from predators and abundant food supplies. It may be that goldeneye have wintered at the lake for many hundreds or thousands of years, and the lake’s recent history of wildlife protection has just allowed that tradition to continue. This is a wonderful example of wildlife conservation, if true. I hope by the time this Gull appears, not every goldeneye -- Barrow’s or not – will be gone, and readers will have a chance to see these beautiful waterfowl. If not, next year, as the days shorten and there’s a chill to the air, you can count on them to return to Lake Merritt, elegant messengers from the north.
