20 CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 



concluded that a total of 48,000 brant was present of which two-thirds 

 were found on South Humboldt Bay. 



This number of brant is somewhat above the 10-year average for 

 the period 1932-1941 at Humboldt Bay, but it is less than the 1940 and 

 1941 totals (see Table 1). Far fewer brant were reported at Hum- 

 boldt Bay in several previous counts, however. The present census 

 result plus Werder's report that he found no evidence of eelgrass deple- 

 tion, indicates that the brant of this locality were in a satisfactory 

 position. 



Werder stated that the first brant observed at Humboldt Bay in 

 the Autumn of 1941 were noted on October 12th. This is an early 

 date for migrant arrivals and the individuals may possibly have been 

 those that were reported as having bred there that Summer (Moffitt, 

 1941). Brant censuses made at Humboldt Bay on the three days, 

 January 24-26, 1942, by Werder for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Serv- 

 ice, averaged 20,000 birds. The normal seasonal increase of brant 

 locally from early January to peak numbers in March, which has been 

 mentioned in previous census reports, is well indicated by Werder's 

 observations in 1942. 



Bodega Bay 



For the fourth time Warden Bert Laws took the census in this 

 locality. As previously, the count was made with telescope from shore, 

 about midmorning. Most of the brant were found near the mouth of 

 the bay and along the shore near the sand spit, where they were prob- 

 ably driven by the activities of boats in the upper bay. The total 

 count was only 470 brant which compared unfavorably with a total 

 of 555 birds counted in 1941 and with a previous 10-year average of 

 1,520 brant for the bay. Only once, in 1936 when 350 brant were 

 counted, were fewer birds reported than in the present season. It is 

 uncertain whether the increased amount of boating, fishing and other 

 human activities, or depletion of eelgrass in Bodega Bay has contrib- 

 uted most to the decline in the numbers of brant that have visited the 

 bay in recent years. Their numbers have declined steadily since 1937, 

 but most markedly in the last two seasons, coincident with the eelgrass 

 depletion. 



In counting on Bodega Bay for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

 annual waterfowl inventory, Warden Laws reported 560 brant present 

 on January 24th, and 340 on January 26, 1942. 



Tomales Bay 



Gordon H. True, Jr., Bureau of Game Conservation, Division of 

 Fish and Game, and the writer took the brant census on this bay from 

 outboard motorboat from 8.15 to 10.40 a.m. of February 10, 1942. 

 This was during a period of falling tide, high water having been at 

 7.38 a.m. The day was clear, calm and warm, providing good condi- 

 tions for observation and it was judged that a reasonably accurate 

 count was obtained. Most of the brant were found feeding in a large 

 flock north of Hog Island. None were observed south of Nick's Cove, 

 just south of Hamlet, where in some years large numbers have been 

 counted ; while very few birds, only 93 to be exact, were counted in the 

 outer bay north of Tom's Point where many were noted in some of the 



