I was intrigued to come across a pair yesterday on the Boise River 100 yards west of the Garden City Library. Seems unlikely it was the same pair from the day before but I savored the thought.

In the 70s they were regularly on the Council, ID, sewer ponds in winter.

They have become regulars over the last few years and I see them every winter.

I’ve typically seen them on larger bodies of water and rarely just 2. It was still there as of 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning. 

These were my first Barrow’s goldeneyes. They’re quite the little divers. We must not get many around here. 

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Tip ‘o the day, Karl. Thank you! I followed up and found the Barrow’s Goldeneyes still there at 2:30 this afternoon.

I had a Barrow’s Goldeneye pair on February 9th at 930 am at the pond on the East End Of The Optimist Park off Hill Road in boise.

We have a Steller’s that arrives every day to ignore the platform feeder and acrobatically use the black oil sunflower feeder instead. He’s very vocal about what he thinks if the feeder isn’t filled in time. A single Steller’s came every day
two winters ago but used the platform feeder.