Brant
Branta bernicla

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Aves
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Genus: Branta

Audio for Species

Call

Call

from Macaulay Library

Species Related Links

Additional Brant Pictures

Description

Length: 22-26 in (56-66 cm) Weight: 42.3-63.5 oz (1200-1800 g) Wingspan: 48 in (121.92 cm)

A small coastal goose with large wings, short neck, small head and bill. They have a black head, neck, belly, breast; with a dark tail, and very dark wings. White broken band on neck. Black bill, legs, and feet. White upper and undertail coverts, and rump.

The immature Brant is similar to adult, without the white neck band, and has white scaling on the back.

Habitat, Range, and Feeding

They breed in low Arctic, near upper edges of salt marshes along gently sloping seacoasts or broad estuarine deltas supporting abundant low graminoid vegetation, and often nest in colonies. Wintering in intertidal mudflats in well-protected, shallow marine waters where eelgrass and/or green algae are abundant. On the Pacific Coast of North America, most wintering areas are in sheltered bays or behind sand spits, like the Dungeness Spit.

The female forms the nest by wiggling and squirming to create an indention on the ground, she pushes away the soil with her feet until she reaches the permafrost. The first egg is layed then, and afterwards she adds vegetation and debris in layers over the eggs for protection and to complete the structure. They often builds nests on islands in small ponds or river deltas, on small offshore islands, or on gravel spits, to avoid predators. The clutch size is 3 to 5 eggs, that are creamy with a tinge of pale olive. Incubation period is 22 to 26 days; fledge in 40 to 50 days.

They are plant eaters; eating plants like eelgrass, green algae, salt marsh plants, short arctic graminoids, forbs, and mosses.