I remember the exciting sound of whistling wings when crossing the 5th Ave
bridge in the waning light of November afternoons during the early 1970s.
Flock after flock of Barrow's Goldeneyes would pass on their way into
Capitol Lake. Scott Richardson, in his book, "East Bay Bird Guide", actually
captured a bit of detail (thankfully) about a phenomenon that appears to be
completely a thing of the past:

Referring to a line graph of goldeneye counts, Scott writes:

"One line (closed circles) shows maximum counts of goldeneyes flying over
the 5th Avenue bridge between 15:30 and 17:00 on November afternoons. Glen
and Wanda Hoge made these counts after finding that Budd Inlet had a
goldeneye glut in November, with most migrants roosting on Capitol Lake at
night. "

The caption to the graph reads, "The Hoges typically tallied 1200 to 1500
between 1973 and 1984".

I remember at least attempt I made, probably around 2000, to see if any
goldeneyes still flew into Capitol Lake on November afternoons, with
disappointing results.

Kelly McAllister
Olympia, Washington