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English
Brant

Brant

Branta bernicla

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The Brant Goose is a small, dark sea goose with three main forms – dark-bellied, pale-bellied and black – that breed on the high Arctic tundra and winter on temperate coasts and estuaries. It is closely tied to salty shorelines rich in marine plants and migrates in cohesive, low-flying flocks.

Did you know?

  • Medieval Europeans believed Brant and Barnacle Geese grew from floating barnacles.
  • The Brent oilfield in the North Sea was named after this goose.

Voice

Call
Flight call

About the species

Identification

A small, short-billed goose: head, neck and breast black with a white patch on the neck, the back grey-brown and the flanks paler, and the undertail pure white. Its small size, short bill and neck patch separate it from other geese; it lacks the white face of Barnacle Goose.

Family

Anatidae

Size

Very large (swan)

Colours

black, brown, white

About the habitat

Breeds on low, wet coastal tundra near deltas and lagoons. Outside the breeding season shallow coasts, bays, estuaries and tidal flats, and nearby coastal fields.

Diet

Mainly marine plants such as eelgrass and sea lettuce, as well as saltmarsh plants and green algae; on the breeding grounds tundra grasses, herbs and mosses. It increasingly grazes coastal fields in winter.

Behaviour

Highly migratory and gregarious; flocks often fly in low, undulating lines over the sea with soft, rolling calls. Feeds by grazing and dabbling on intertidal flats at low tide. Pairs usually mate for life and migrate as family groups. Nests on the ground near water; the chicks walk, swim and feed within a day of hatching.

Sources

Photo: Needsmoreritalin, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Atlantic Brant Fly-By Wiki.png

Sound: Sonothèque ADVL, XC815463, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/815463

Sound: Sonothèque ADVL, XC705887, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/705887

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brant_(goose)

See also