page_title: Brant (goose)
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Brant (goose) / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Pale-bellied Brant Geese Branta bernicla hrota, Long Island Sound, Milford, CT, USA, Dec. 25 2018.
context_page_description: The brant, or brent goose, is a small goose of the genus Branta. There are three subspecies, all of which winter along temperate-zone sea-coasts and breed on the high-Arctic tundra.
  The Brent System, a major oilfield, was named after the species.
context_section_description: The brant is a small goose with a short, stubby bill. It measures 55–66 cm (22–26 in) long, 106–121 cm (42–48 in) across the wings and weighs 0.88–2.2 kg (1.9–4.9 lb). The under-tail is pure white, and the tail black and very short (the shortest of any goose).
  The species is divided into three subspecies:
  Dark-bellied brant B. b. bernicla (Linnaeus, 1758)
  Pale-bellied brant B. b. hrota (Müller, 1776) (sometimes also known as light-bellied brent goose in Europe, and Atlantic brant in North America)
  Black brant B. b. nigricans (Lawrence, 1846) (sometimes also known as the Pacific brant in North America)
  Some DNA evidence suggests that these forms are genetically distinct; while a split into three separate species has been proposed, it is not widely accepted, with other evidence upholding their maintenance as a single species.
  The body of the dark-bellied form is fairly uniformly dark grey-brown all over, the flanks and belly not significantly paler than the back. The head and neck are black, with a small white patch on either side of the neck. It breeds on the Arctic coasts of central and western Siberia and winters in western Europe, with over half the population in southern England, the rest between northern Germany and north-western France.
  The pale-bellied brant appears blackish-brown and light grey in colour. The body is different shades of grey-brown all over, the flanks and belly are significantly paler than the back and present a marked contrast. The head and neck are black, with a small white patch on either side of the neck. It breeds in Franz Josef Land, Svalbard, Greenland and northeastern Canada, wintering in Denmark, northeast England, Ireland and the Atlantic coast of the U.S. from Maine to Georgia, as well as in a  small but significant area, le Havre de Regnéville, centered on the Sienne Estuary in Manche (Northern France).
  In Ireland it is recorded in winter from a number areas including Lough Foyle, Strangford Lough, Tralee Bay and Castlemain Harbour.
  The black brant appears blackish-brown and white in colour. This form is a very contrastingly black and white bird, with a uniformly dark sooty-brown back, similarly-coloured underparts (with the dark colour extending furthest back of the three forms) and a prominent white flank patch; it also has larger white neck patches, forming a near-complete collar. It breeds in northwestern Canada, Alaska and eastern Siberia, and winters mostly on the west coast of North America from southern Alaska to California, but also some in east Asia, mainly Japan.
  The Asian populations of the black brant populations had previously been regarded as a separate subspecies orientalis based on purported paler upperparts coloration; however, it is generally now believed that this is not correct.
  A fourth form (known variously as gray brant, intermediate brant, or grey-bellied brent goose) has been proposed, although no formal subspecies description has been made as yet, for a population of birds breeding in central Arctic Canada (mainly Melville Island), and wintering on Puget Sound on the American west coast around the U.S./Canada border. These birds are intermediate in appearance between black brant and pale-bellied brant, having brown upperparts and grey underparts which give less of a contrast with the white flank patch. Given that this population exhibits mixed characters, it has also been proposed that, rather than being a separate subspecies, it is actually a result of interbreeding between these two forms.
caption: Feeding in Long Island Sound, Connecticut
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