Species: Branta bernicla

Brant
Species

    A small goose. Head, neck, back, and upper breast basically all black, with a small white necklace (absent in juveniles in summer and fall). Belly dark to pale gray. Dark taill surrounded by white coverts. Wingspan around 42 inches (107 cm).

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    Marine birds

    More than 70 bird species regularly utilize Puget Sound during some or all stages of their life histories, but only a portion of these are actively being investigated.

    Brandt's cormorant (Phalacrocorax penicillatus). Photo by Finley and Bohlman, courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
    Kingdom
    Animalia
    Phylum
    Craniata
    Class

    Aves

    Order

    Anseriformes

    Family

    Anatidae

    Genus

    Branta

    Classification
    Other Global Common Names
    Ganso de Collar - bernache cravant
    Informal Taxonomy
    Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Waterfowl
    Formal Taxonomy
    Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Anseriformes - Anatidae - Branta - , formerly regarded as a distinct species. Populations from Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, North Slope of Alaska, Anderson River (NWT), and Victoria Island are genetically homogeneous; Melville Island population is distinctive, apparently long isolated from other breeding populations (Shields, 1990).

    A small goose. Head, neck, back, and upper breast basically all black, with a small white necklace (absent in juveniles in summer and fall). Belly dark to pale gray. Dark taill surrounded by white coverts. Wingspan around 42 inches (107 cm).

    Migration
    false - false - true - Pale-bellied brant breeding in northeastern Canadian arctic winter in Ireland. Those wintering on the U.S. Atlantic coast breed on Southhampton Island and Foxe Basin. The pale-bellied form that breeds chiefly on high arctic islands in Canada winters in the Puget Sound area. Majority of dark-bellied western brant from northwestern Canada and Alaska winter farther south on the Pacific coast, mainly in Mexico (see Shields 1990). See Johnson and Herter (1989) for many further details on migration.
    Non-migrant
    false
    Locally Migrant
    false
    Food Comments
    Winter diet includes eelgrass, sea lettuce (ULVA) and sea cabbage (ENTEROMORPHA). Summer diet: grasses, algae, mosses, other plants. Also eats marine invertebrates. Creeping alkali grass and Hoppner sedge are important foods for adults and developing young in breeding areas in western North America (Derksen and Ward 1993). Accumulates nutritional reserves in winter and in staging areas; important foods in western North American staging areas include eelgrass, sea lettuce, and other marine algae; also eats roe of Pacific herring, crustaceans, and mollusks (Derksen and Ward 1993).
    Reproduction Comments
    Egg laying occurs in June-July. Female incubates an average of 3-4 eggs for 22-26 days. Male stands guard. Individual females produce up to one brood each year (do not renest if first attempt fails). Nestlings are precocial, tended by both adults, sometimes congregate in large creches, fledge in 45-50 days, remain with adults until following spring. Some first breed at two years, most at three years. Lifelong pair bond. Nesting often occurs in loose colonies. Large numbers of subadults and nonbreeders concentrate around nesting colonies and other areas during nesting season and molt period (Johnson and Herter 1989). Brant are long lived. Some live 20-25 years.
    Ecology Comments
    Storms accompanied by high tides may destroy large numbers of nests (Johnson and Herter 1989). The arctic fox is the most important predator of eggs and young in the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta colonies, where glaucous gulls and parasitic jaegers also take eggs and young (Derksen and Ward 1993). <br><br>Flightless period during summer molt lasted 23-24 days in northern Alaska (Taylor 1995, Auk 112:904-919).
    Length
    64
    Weight
    1370
    NatureServe Global Status Rank
    G5
    Global Status Last Reviewed
    1996-11-20
    Global Status Last Changed
    1996-11-20
    Other Status

    LC - Least concern

    Conservation Status Map
    <img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.BC=__&CA.MB=__&CA.NB=__&CA.NT=S3&CA.NS=__&CA.NU=SNR&CA.ON=__&CA.PE=__&CA.QC=__&CA.YT=S1&US.AK=S4&US.CA=S2&US.CT=__&US.DE=__&US.ID=__&US.ME=__&US.MD=__&US.MA=__&US.NN=SNR&US.NH=__&US.NJ=__&US.NY=__&US.NC=__&US.OH=__&US.OR=S4&US.PA=__&US.RI=__&US.SD=__&US.TX=S2&US.VT=__&US.VA=__&US.WA=__" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
    Global Range
    H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - The breeding range encompasses arctic North America and eastern Russia. In winter, brant occur along the Pacific coast from Alaska to Baja California and mainland Mexico, along the Atlantic coast from Massachusetts to North Carolina (mainly New Jersey to North Carolina), and from the British Isles to the Mediterranean area and south to coastal China.<br><br>BREEDS: arctic North America and Russia: Prince Patrick and Melville islands in the western Canadian high arctic and the Beaufort Sea islands to the coastal plain of Canada and Alaska, with small colonies on the north side of the Chukotka Peninsula in Russia and on Wrangel Island (Derksen and Ward 1993). In western North America, about 80% of the total black brant population nests in four major colonies on the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta in western Alaska (Derkson and Ward 1993). WINTERS: in North America, along the Pacific coast from Alaska to Baja California and mainland Mexico, along Atlantic from Massachusetts to North Carolina (mainly New Jersey to North Carolina); from British Isles to Mediterranean area, south to coastal China; occasional in Hawaii. A major shift in the winter distribution in western North America occurred during the 1950s and 1960s, with increased numbers using lagoons along the Mexican mainland and much decreased numbers wintering in California; since the mid-1960s, more than 80% of the counted winter population has occurred in Mexico (Derksen and Ward 1993). In the 1980s, an average of several thousand wintered in the Izembek Lagoon area of the Alaska Peninsula (Derksen and Ward 1993). Kasegaluk Lagoon on the Chukchi Sea in northwestern Alaska is an important migration stop during southward migration; as much as 49% of the entire Pacific flyway population may use the lagoon (Johnson 1993). Izembek Lagoon on the Alaska Peninsula is a critically important stop in spring and late summer, hosting at least the majority of the eastern Pacific population (Johnson and Herter 1989); nearly the entire black brant population spends as long as nine weeks there before departing for wintering areas to the south (Derksen and Ward 1993). Important summer molting areas occur on Alaska's north slope and Wrangel Island (Derksen and Ward 1993).
    Global Range Code
    H
    Global Range Description
    >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)
    ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.103759