On Wed, 1 Jul 1998, Bill Smith wrote:

> The most authoritative information recently published of which I know
> (citations available), suggests that Common Goldeneyes claimed as breeders
> in Washington in fact are misidentified Barrow's, and that the people
> doing the identification are unaware of the progression of the latter's
> appearance through the breeding season, and the great difficulty in
> separating the two females furing the summer months.

Well, I have challenged Steve Zender on this issue and he is a good biologist
so I have taken his assessment at face value. I can't remember how
he decided they were Common Goldeneye rather than Barrow's. Rather
than using the subtleties of bill size, head shape, and plumage,
it seems to me that he described seeing nothing but Common Goldeneye
males early on in the breeding season and assumed that the females
seen later with broods were also Common Goldeneyes.

With the help of Tweeters to communicate the need, I suspect that
some really keen observers will eventually tour the northeast corner
and bring back some definitive descriptions that will settle the question
in many of our minds. As for me, I may not get further east than
Wenatchee for a while.

Kelly McAllister