Brant
(Branta bernicla)

Overview

Summary

© Glen Tepke (www.pbase.com/gtepke)
For additional photos and vocalizations, visit Dendroica. (Link opens in a new window.)

There are four distinct populations of Arctic-nesting Brant recognized in North America and management actions are implemented at the population level. At the national level, the Brant population appears to have remained stable since 1970. However, due to the remoteness of the different breeding areas the population are monitored through harvest and band recovery data instead of population inventories during the breeding season (Alisauskas et al. 2009). This species has been identified as a priority for conservation and/or stewardship in one or more Bird Conservation Region Strategies in Canada.

Designations

Population status

Population estimate

Distribution maps

• BirdLife International / NatureServe

Migration strategy, occurrence

Responsibility for conservation of world population

Conservation and management

Brant remain, for the most part, restricted to natural marine marshes and have not yet begun to use agricultural landscapes like the other species of geese. This means that they have not been able to capitalize on the landscape features driving the exponential population growth of other species and are more vulnerable to sporadic heavy losses from starvation and periodic nesting failures. Protecting staging areas and wintering grounds, as well as limiting disturbance are probably the most important actions that can be taken. Relatively few Atlantic Brant are harvested in Canada; however, the number taken by subsistence hunters is not presently known.

Bird conservation region strategies

Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:

• conservation concerns (i.e., species vulnerable due to population size, distribution, population trend, abundance, or threats)
• stewardship responsibilities (i.e., species that typify the regional avifauna or have a large proportion of their range or population in the sub-region)
• management concerns (i.e., species that require ongoing management because of their socio-economic importance as game species, or because of their impacts on other species or habitats)
• other concerns (i.e., species deemed a priority by regional experts for other reasons than those listed above or because they are listed as species at risk or concern at the provincial level)

Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.

References

• Alisauskas, R.T., K.L. Drake, and J.D. Nichols. 2009. Filling a void: abundance estimation of North American populations of Arctic Geese using hunter recoveries. pp. 465–492 In: Thomson, D.L., E.G. Cooch, and M.J. Conroy (eds). Modeling Demographic Processes in Marked Populations. Environmental and Ecological Statistics 3: 465–492. Alisauskas, R.T., K.L. Drake, and J.D. Nichols. 2009. Filling a void: abundance estimation of North American populations of Arctic Geese using hunter recoveries. pp. 465–492 In: Thomson, D.L., E.G. Cooch, and M.J. Conroy (eds). Modeling Demographic Processes in Marked Populations. Environmental and Ecological Statistics 3: 465–492. (Link)
• Canadian Wildlife Service Waterfowl Committee. 2014. Population Status of Migratory Game Birds in Canada: November 2014. CWS Migratory Birds Regulatory Report Number 44. Canadian Wildlife Service Waterfowl Committee. 2014. Population Status of Migratory Game Birds in Canada: November 2014. CWS Migratory Birds Regulatory Report Number 44. (Link)