Barrow's goldeneye

Bucephala islandica (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)

Barrow's goldeneye (Bucephala islandica) is a living bird, a waterfowl in the family Anatidae and the order Anseriformes. Adults typically weigh about 921 g and have a typical wingspan of about 75.5 cm, placing the species in the small size class.

Photo: USFWS Mountain-Prairie · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the barrow's goldeneye

It is an aquatic carnivore of wetland habitats, and it is partially migratory.

Weight: 730 g – 1.14 kgsrc for Weight
Length: 43 cm – 49 cmsrc for Length
Wingspan: 67 cm – 84 cmsrc for Wingspan
Lifespan: 15.3 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet: Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan: 18 years
Main food: arthropodssrc for Main food
Habitat: wetlandsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation: 30 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch: 9.5src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity: 24 monthssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year: 1src for Litters or clutches a year
Reproduction: Eggssrc for Reproduction
Lifestyle: Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle
Migration: Partialsrc for Migration
Brain mass: 6.07 g – 6.34 gsrc for Brain mass
Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record: Not recorded

How big is the barrow's goldeneye?

At 49 cm, the recorded maximum length of the barrow's goldeneye is about 29% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Photos of the barrow's goldeneye

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Barrow's goldeneye (Bucephala islandica) — Donna Dewhurst · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the barrow's goldeneye live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the barrow's goldeneye as introduced in 4 countries.

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

What is the barrow's goldeneye?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

Barrow's goldeneye (Bucephala islandica) is a medium-sized sea duck of the genus Bucephala, the goldeneyes. This bird was named after Sir John Barrow. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek boukephalos, "bullheaded", from bous, "bull" and kephale, "head", a reference to the bulbous head shape of the bufflehead. The species name islandica means Iceland.

From the Wikipedia article “Barrow's goldeneye” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Barrow%27s_goldeneye&oldid=1362929364), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the barrow's goldeneye endangered?

The barrow's goldeneye is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

LCLeast Concern
NTNear Threatened
VUVulnerable
ENEndangered
CRCritically Endangered
EWExtinct in the Wild
EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

How is the barrow's goldeneye classified?

kingdomAnimalia
phylumChordata
classAves
orderAnseriformes
familyAnatidae
genusBucephala
SpeciesBucephala islandica (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)

Synonyms Anas barrovii, Anas islandica, Clangula barrovii, Clangula barrovii, Clangula islandica, Clangula scapularis, Fuligula barrovii, Glaucionetta islandica

Other names and names in other languages (57)

ذهبية العين باروArabic
بط ذهبي العين باروArabic
Cabezudo d'IslandiaAragonese
Исландска звънаркаBulgarian
Garv-IslandBreton
morell d'IslàndiaCatalan
hohol islandskýCzech
hwyaden lygad aur BarrowWelsh
Islandsk HvinandDanish
SpatelenteGerman
islanda klanguloEsperanto
Pato IslándicoSpanish
Porrón islándicoSpanish
läänesõtkasEstonian
amerikantelkkäFinnish
íslendsk súgontFaroese
Garrot d'IslandeFrench
Garrot d’IslandeFrench
Órshúileach bhearúIrish
Órshúileach ÍoslannachIrish
Ollodourado islandésGalician
Thunnag hooill-airhey BarrowManx
עבראש איסלנדיHebrew
islandska patkaCroatian
izlandi réceHungarian
izlandi kerceréceHungarian
HúsöndIcelandic
Quattrocchi d'IslandaItalian
Quattrocchi islandicoItalian
キタホオジロガモJapanese
NiaqortooqKalaallisut
북방흰뺨오리Korean
islandinė klykuolėLithuanian
tq̓ʷačlut
Islandes niraLatvian
ijslandse brilduikerDutch
islandsandNorwegian Nynorsk
Amerikantelkyolo
sierpiecPolish
pato-islandêsPortuguese
olho-dourado-da-islândiaPortuguese
Pato da IslândiaPortuguese
исландский гогольRussian
IslánddačoaðgiNorthern Sami
islánddačoađgiNorthern Sami
hlaholka veľkáSlovak
islandski zvonecSlovenian
Islandska patka dupljašicaSerbian
islandsknipaSwedish
altıngözTurkish
İzlanda AltıngözüTurkish
Ісландський гогольUkrainian
Гоголь ісландськийUkrainian
Vịt mắt vàng BarrowVietnamese
冰洲鵲鴨Chinese
巴氏鵲鴨Chinese
巴氏鹊鸭Chinese

Catalogue of Life Wikipedia iNaturalist TAXREF Wikidata WoRMS IUCN Red List

Relatives of the barrow's goldeneye

Other species in the same genus Bucephala.

Common goldeneye

Bucephala clangula

Anatidae

Bufflehead

Bucephala albeola

Anatidae

CompareBarrow's goldeneye vs Common goldeneye Barrow's goldeneye vs Bufflehead

Common questions

Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.

What is the scientific name of Barrow's goldeneye?

Barrow's goldeneye is Bucephala islandica, named by (J. F. Gmelin, 1789). It belongs to the family Anatidae.

How much does Barrow's goldeneye weigh?

Adults typically weigh about 921 g, with values reported from 730 g to 1.14 kg. The species is in the small size class.

What is the wingspan of Barrow's goldeneye?

The typical wingspan is about 75.5 cm, with values reported from 67 cm to 84 cm.

Is Barrow's goldeneye endangered?

No. Its IUCN Red List category is Least Concern (LC) in the global assessment, which is not a threatened category.

How long does Barrow's goldeneye live?

The typical lifespan is about 15 years, and the highest recorded value is 18 years.

How many eggs does Barrow's goldeneye lay?

A clutch is 9 or 10 eggs, with 1 clutch per year. Incubation takes 30 days.

Is the barrow's goldeneye an invasive species?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the barrow's goldeneye as introduced in 4 countries: Belgium, Germany, Poland and United Kingdom, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.

An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
AnimalTraits: a curated animal trait database for body mass, metabolic rate and brain size · CC0 1.0 · 1.0.7
Herberstein, M.E., McLean, D.J., Lowe, E. et al. (2022) AnimalTraits: a curated animal trait database for body mass, metabolic rate and brain size. Scientific Data 9: 265. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01364-9. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6468938
AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS) · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-11-13
Pagad, S., Genovesi, P., Carnevali, L., Schigel, D. & McGeoch, M.A. (2018) Introducing the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data 5: 170202. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.202. Country checklists published through GBIF by the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group.
Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Barrow's goldeneye (Bucephala islandica). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/barrows-goldeneye

MLA

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BibTeX

@misc{barrows_goldeneye_2026,
  title = {Barrow's goldeneye (Bucephala islandica)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/barrows-goldeneye},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}