BRANT 

 (Branta bernicla) 



[DA: Knortegas, DU: Rotgans, EN: Brent Goose, Brent, Sea Goose, White-bellied 

 Brant; FI: Sepelhanhi, FR: Bernache cravant , GE: Ringelgans, IC : Margaes , IT: 

 Oca Colombaccio, JA: Koku gan , NW: Ringgas, PO: Bernikla obrozna, PR: Ganso- 

 bravo, SP: Barnacla carinagra, Brantal; SW: Prutgas, US: Black Brant, American 

 Brant, Atlantic Brant] 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION 



North America Brant breed in the maritime Arctic regions of eastern North 

 America west to about longitude 100° W, including the Parry Islands, Axel Heil- 

 berg Island, northern Ellesmere Island, Southampton Island, the islands around 

 the Gulf of Boothia, Prince Regent Inlet, Wellington Channel, and Baffin Island 

 (AOU 1957). They winter chiefly along the Atlantic coast of the United States 

 from Massachusetts south to North Carolina, rarely farther south, and less com- 

 monly off western North America from southwestern British Columbia south to the 

 coasts of Baja California and the mainland of western Mexico (Bellrose 1976). 

 There are inland records from many of the eastern and mid-western states (AOU 

 1957). The western subspecies (Black Brant) breeds in eastern Asia, northern 

 Alaska, and northwestern Canada east to about 110° W; eastern and western forms 

 intergrade on the edges of their breeding ranges. Western birds winter on the 

 Pacific coast of North America from British Columbia south to Baja California 

 and the coast of mainland Mexico (Bellrose 1976), and on large inland western 

 lakes. There are records from Hawaii, inland western states, and Atlantic 

 coastal states (AOU 1957, Einarson 1965). 



World Distribution Brant breed in a circumpolar Arctic belt across North 

 America and across Eurasia from northern Greenland (Salomonsen 1950), Spitsber- 

 gen, and Franz Josef Land to eastern Siberia. They winter south to Japan and 

 northern China and along the coasts of northwestern Europe and northern Russia 

 (AOU 1957). These geese may stray in winter as far south as northern Africa 

 (Delacour 1954, Cramp et al. 1977). 



DISTRIBUTION IN THE COASTAL SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 



Brant are common in winter in North Carolina and casual or rare elsewhere 

 in the southeast (Map 6). Like most other geese, Brant are regularly kept in 

 captivity and occurrences away from their normal marine habitat may not be nat- 

 ural . 



Taxonomic note: The AOU (1957) believed American populations represented dis- 

 tinct species, the Brant (B_. bernicla ) in the east and the Black Brant (B. nig- 

 ricans ) in the west. More recently, the AOU (1976) has merged the forms into 

 a single species, a treatment earlier adopted by many authorities (Johnsgard 

 1975, Bellrose 1976, Palmer 1976a). 



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