Brant

Overview

Brant: Small goose, dark brown upperparts and brown-barred, pale gray underparts. Head is black; short black neck has partial white ring. Tail and vent are white. Western race, formerly known as the Black Brant, is darker. Heavy direct flight with strong wing beats. Flies in straight line formation.

Range and Habitat

Brant: Breeds in eastern Siberia and along the northern coast of Alaska and western Canada; Pacific subspecies spends winters along the west coast from British Columbia to Baja California. Preferred habitats include tundra and coastal islands in the Arctic during breeding, and salt marshes and estuaries during winter.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Brant is also known as the Brent Goose. The spelling "Brant" is the original one, with "Brent" being a later folk-etymological idea that it was derived from a classical Greek water bird name brenthos. It actually came from the guttural call note of the species. They have the shortest tail of any goose. They possess a highly developed salt gland that allows them to drink salt water. A group of geese has many collective nouns, including a "blizzard", "chevron", "knot", "plump", and "string" of geese.