Uncommon Common Goldeneye

A male Common Goldeneye, spotted recently off Red Hook.A rare bird for Upper New York Bay. Seen in ones and twos and occasionally threes. Locally, Jamaica Bay is better. I’ve never been this close.Where pop, Cold War, and birding intersect: bird-watcher Ian Fleming’s Jamaica home was named Goldeneye, whence the Bond title (or was it the other way around?). And “James Bond” was the American ornithologist who wrote the book on West Indian birds. Literally.