Common Goldeneye in nesting cavity

The Common Goldeneye is one of the 6 species of arboreal duck found in Québec. Their nesting requires the presence of snags or sufficiently large and mature trees where these ducks find the cavities they need for laying. A characterization study of the breeding habitat of arboreal ducks, dated from 2002, demonstrated that on average 300m separated the nesting site from the nearest body of water.(1) This suggests that the standards forestry practices, which only require a 20m riparian strip near water bodies and allow the destruction of trees of no commercial value encourage the decline of arboreal duck populations by reducing the availability of potential nest sites.