Goose, Cackling

Physical Features

The Brant Goose is an abundant small to medium sized goose. Their tail is black with a white under-tail, and it is the shortest tail of all geese. The adults have a black head, neck and chest with a white, partly broken collar. Their bill is short and stubby. The young resemble the adults, but lack the white collar and have white scaling on their back. Fully grown Brant Geese have a weight of 1360 g /48oz and a body length between 56-66cm/22-26in.

Habitat

Brant Geese used to be strictly coastal birds in winter, seldom leaving tidal estuaries, but they have started using agricultural lands a short distance inland. Their breeding habitats are in Siberia and along the northern coast of Alaska and western Canada. The Pacific subspecies lives along the west coast from British Columbia to Baja California in winter.

Diet

While Brant Geese are on their breeding grounds, they feed on grass, sedges, algae, moss, lichens, and invertebrates. When wintering in eastern and central North America, they feed on eelgrass found in tidal flats. By following other species of geese, Brant Geese learnt to feed extensively on grass and winter-sown cereals that are inland. These bird feed in flocks during low tide when vegetation is accessible and eat vegetation left floating during high tide.

Meat

Brant Goose meat is a dark colored meat which tastes like well done roast beef. There is a thick fat layer between the skin and meat but the meat is very lean.

Behavior

Brant Geese use the low-lying wet coastal tundra for both breeding and feeding during the breeding season. Their nest is bowl-shaped and lined with grass and down, on an elevated location or in a small pond. The female lays 1 to 7 creamy white to buff eggs and incubates them for 22 to 26 days with the help of the male. . The young fledge after 40 to 50 days but stay close to the parents until the first migration is over. They fly in straight line formations and have strong wing beats. Brant Geese make a low, hoarse, throaty rolling “c-r-r-onk, crr-ronk' call. Other species similar to the Brant Goose is the Canada Goose, which is larger, longer-necked, paler, and has conspicuous white cheek patch. Other dark geese have white face patches. It is one of the species governed by the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Water birds (AEWA).

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