Belgium (NB), Bermuda, Canada, China (mainland), Czech Republic, Denmark (NB) (P), Faroe Islands, Finland (P), France (NB) (P), Germany (NB) (P), Greenland (B), Hungary, Iceland (P), Ireland (NB), Italy, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles (NB), North Korea, Norway, Poland (NB), Puerto Rico, Romania (NB), Russia (Asian) (B), Russia (Central Asian) (B), Russia (European) (B) (P), South Korea, Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (B), Taiwan (China), United Kingdom (NB), USA (B).
Vagrant to Algeria, Austria, Barbados, Bulgaria (NB), Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska), Egypt, Greece, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Morocco, Portugal, Senegal, Slovakia (Slovak Republic), Spain (NB), St Pierre and Miquelon (P), Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey.
Population
Estimated population is 560,000 (2010).
Status LC
Hunting and predation by Arctic Foxes (Vulpes lagopus) and susceptibility to avian influenza are the main threats.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Food
Plant material, particularly eelgrass in winter.
Voice
A single 'waruk' that when made by flocks form a far-carryong babbling sound.
Brant Goose (Branta bernicla) [XC352831]
by Stein \u00d8. Nilsen from Malahide, Fingal, County Dublin, Ireland (call, flight call)
Brant Goose (Branta bernicla) [XC174365]
by James Lidster from Coastguard Station, Jones Beach, Long Island, New York, United States (alarm call, call, flapping)
Nest
A mound of vegetation on an island or hummock in water.
Eggs (Guide)
3 - 5; creamy-white. Incubation: about 28 days; by female.
Subspecies
Branta bernicla (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) was putatively split into Brent Goose (Branta bernicla), Pale-bellied Brent Goose (Branta hrota) and Black Brant (Branta nigricans) by Shields (1990) but this treatment is not followed by the BirdLife Taxonomic Working Group.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
bernicla (Linnaeus, 1758) - North-central Siberia. Wintering in western Europe, and northern Germany and northern France.
hrota (Müller, OF, 1776) - Franz Josef Land, Svalbard, Greenland and north-eastern Canada, wintering in Denmark, northeast England, Strangford Lough in northern Ireland and the Atlantic coast of the U.S. from Maine to Georgia. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Pale-bellied Brent Goose (Branta hrota).
nigricans (Lawrence, 1846) - North-central Canada, Alaska and extreme north-eastern Siberia, and wintering mostly on the west coast of North America from southern Alaska to California, but also some in east Asia, mainly Japan. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Black Brant (Branta nigricans).
orientalis Tugarinov, 1941 - North-eastern Siberia.
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7
BirdLife International Species Factsheet