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
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