61 Brant at Rathtrevor - January 31, 2008

Rathtrevor Beach, Parksville, BC
Photo © Guy Monty


There were 61 Brant Geese spotted at Rathtrevor Beach on January 31, 2008. (Observor: Guy L Monty)

• 61 Brant at Rathtrevor.
• 10/61 were immature
• 0/61 were banded

More Information on Brant Geese at the Brant Wildlife Festival web site. CLICK HERE
Pacific Black Brant
Photo © Guy Monty

Don't confuse Brant with Canada Geese. Note colour difference, white neck markings are different and Brant are smaller than Canada Geese. More info on Black Brant CLICK HERE


Canada Goose
Photo © Guy Monty

Early Brant in Large Numbers-January 21

Brant at the Englishman Jan 21, 2008
© Guy Monty

"I was down at the Englishman Estuary this morning looking for a Cackling Goose, when I heard the familiar sound of a large flock of Brant.........Huh? I ran out towards the end of the spit just in time to see about 50 Brant headed out over the northwestern horizon closely followed by an immature Bald Eagle. I drove over to Surfside RV in case they came back. When I arrived there were 51 Brant sitting on the gravel bar near the mouth of the river, preening, eating eelgrass, and talking away. By the time I left 4 hours later, there were 84 Brant there. It looks like migration is underway! I ended up seeing a white and a green band. I never did get all the digits off the green band, but it definitely ends in "1", api(1). The white banded bird was our old friend R (W) \1E. api (.5) . It did not appear to be with a mate. Out of the 84 birds, 9 were juveniles. One un-banded adult gray-belly as well.No further disturbances of any kind in over 4 hours of observation. An adult Bald Eagle sat less than 50 meters away for the duration of my observation, and never made a run at them. Thanks, Guy L. Monty, Whiskey Creek, BC"

Eelgrass
© Guy Monty