Barrow's goldeneye was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.

[2] Gmelin based his description on the "Hravn Oend" that had been briefly described in 1776 by Danish naturalist Otto Friedrich Müller.

[5][6] The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek boukephalos, meaning "bullheaded", from bous "bull", and kephale, "head.

[10] The Barrow's goldeneye is a relatively quiet bird that generally only makes vocalizations during the breeding season and courtship.

[11] Their breeding habitat consists of wooded lakes and ponds primarily in northwestern North America, but also in scattered locations in eastern Canada and Iceland.

The males stay with their mate through the winter and defend their territory during the breeding season, then leave for the molting site.

[12] In Iceland the bird is known as húsönd (house-duck); it is a common species of the Lake Mývatn in the north of the country.

Barrow's goldeneye, along with many other species of sea ducks, rely on urbanized, coastal estuaries as important places on their migration patterns.

[17] The Barrow's goldeneye is considered an arboreal bird species because much of its nesting is done in cavities found in mature trees.

The birds' exposure to the oil spill mainly occurred in the shallow water mussel beds along the coast.