Lake Superior’s ice limited the open water where the Goldeneyes could forage for their zebra mussels breakfast. Goldeneyes, which normally spook very, very easily allowed me to watch their morning feed from only 30 yards distant at Duluth’s Canal Park this morning. They were hungry! This stop action video slowed the diving down from a few seconds to 13 seconds. The video is a compilation of exactly 40 photographs. Every Goldeneye will disappear! (video link for blog email subscribers)

Goldeneyes Diving in Real Time (video link for email subscribers)

Goldeneye Single Images

Goldeneyes Synchronized Diving … New Olympic Sport!

Duluth’s Canal Park has the only open water between the harbor and the near waters of Lake Superior. All the recent cold meant lots of ice growth, which pushes diving ducks into the Canal. However, the sides of the ship canal are full of tasty zebra mussels … thus the Arctic Riviera’s largest bird feeder.

Enjoy these photos and videos of the feeding Goldeneyes.

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The Movies!

The following words are from my own blog post a few year’s back, but the images were taken late yesterday afternoon at Duluth’s largest bird feeder, Canal Park:

This bird feeder is now open and stocked. Now that the harbor is frozen, but the canal is still open due to current and the passage of freighters, huge flocks of Goldeneyes are present. The ducks know that the canal walls are lined with zebra mussels, which means food! Around 3pm in the afternoon on any sunny day the sun streams down the canal giving excellent photography conditions. However, dress warmly because you are often very exposed to the North wind.

Goldeneyes at Canal Park