Brant still hanging around in large numbers

John L

John L

Well-known member
It seems over the last few years the Brant are hanging around longer and longer. This year they have been feeding inland on the local school yard ball fields. I have seen Brant here before mixed in with some Canada geese but now the flock consists of just Brant. I don't remember ever seeing this many at this time of the year. I think it may be due to SS Sandy destroying some of the feeding grounds that is forcing them to feed on land and the school yard may be a staging area for late migrators heading back north.
I'm not sure what to think of this new phenomena.


 
John that lawn is going to be fertilized well.
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Just think of the lucky team which gets to work it into the soil.
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It can't be any worse than all the goose poo. The school puts out a few dog silos but it does nothing to stop the geese from using the field.
 
we are still holding a hundred or so down here. they all seem to be feeding on grass which isn't abnormal for us.. Sometimes we shoot them in wheat fields close to the bay. i was just watching them at the marina yesterday.
 
When I was in high school, our athletic fields held brant throughout the winter. Come spring the lacrosse players would be slipping on the stuff and turning green in the process.
 
John:
Looks like the Brant are taking lessons from the Canada Geese. When I first saw the photo I thought they were Canada's. Thanks for the photos. Dave
 
John~

We always figured May 15 for the departure of Brant from LI - understanding that many move northward before then, such as from the Cheasapeake or Jersey to Long Island, in prep for the "real" migration to their breeding grounds. Because they breed so far north (many above the Arctic Circle), they need to make sure they do not leave too soon. They need to find food in James/Hudson Bay and the Gulf of St. Lawrence on their way north - so those waters need to be open. And, most important, their breeding grounds need to be ice-free when they arrive in the first or second week in June. The primary reason Brant have boom and bust years is because they will not breed at all if their breeding sites are ice-bound in mid-June. They cannot wait to breed because they need to get their young to flight stage before "winter" storms begin in late-August. The females actually resorb their fertilized embryos if the conditions are adverse.

So, on Long Island, we have most Canadas and many Mallards hatching broods before the Brant even head north.

All the best,

SJS
 
Apparently, the little buggers changed their dietary habits all over this flyway, because the winter count could NOT find them.. Of course, the hunters knew they were field and golf course feeding, du to lack of uvea, and as a result, the flyovers netted what the counters assumed to be low numbers.. Expect a thirty and two bag, unless someone lets them know they miscounted!!
Better to err on the conservative side with the brant , especially if they have an off breeding up north.
 
Steve,

I think they were sticking around a little longer this year due to the weather being a bit cooler but I have never seen this many inland. It is not unusual to see them here in May but never in these numbers. Just seems odd. Every morning for the last week or so they have been feeding in the same ball field. We still have plenty on the Great South Bay and west towards Jones Inlet. Just seems like a very late migration this year.
 
my buddies and i were fishing the saybrook break wall on tuesday and watched a few hundred come from LI. no stripers but it was cool seeing the sound in the spring, i usually only vist it in january
 
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