Thanksgiving Brant

[Steve Sanford]

Happy Thanksgiving, All!

I took these photos a few days ago - on Great South Bay. The season opens this morning - just one per day because of falling winter counts - but I am up in dairy country, wishing good hunts for all of my Long Island gunning brethren. I am providing these photos especially for those of you who do not get to enjoy this remarkable species. I had about 300 Atlantic Brant around me - and my camera handy Tuesday morning. They flew and fed all around me and so I got to watch their wonderful flight patterns - especially the flying abreast whilst uttering the low, rolling calls and clucks. And, although the near future looks unpromising, I was very happy to see lots of juveniles in the flock. The young-of-the-year have pale edgings on their back feathers. So, with a scope and some patience, one can count adults and juveniles in a feeding flock. Back in the day, we would survey a few thousand Brant each November to get a sense of productivity.

Whether you are hunting today, putting away the season's gear, preparing for an opener - or just gathering with family and friends, I wish you all the best,

SJS

 

[Al Hansen]

What a perfect set of pictures for this day of Thanks that we celebrate.
Hopefully brant will make a comeback.
Al

 

[Tom Barb]

Steve, what a great way to start this beautiful day. Thank you for sharing.

 

[John Fraser]

Great photos Steve of a really neat bird. Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[Steve Sutton]

Great pictures Steve. Brant will be one of the "events" I miss the most about waving the NW. They were the reason I moved there and will now be one of the main reason I return to visit.

Thanks. For posting theses


Steve

 

[Carl]

Wow, amazing photos! Thank you for sharing on this beautiful Thanksgiving morning.

 

[D Dominski]

Steve:
Thanks for sharing such great photos, perfect thought for a day we give thanks for all our natural gifts.
Happy Holidays & Great Hunting.

 

[Scott Swain]

Love the long undulating strings of brant. I have three made by Gary Bell cruising across my living room ceiling. Happy Thanksgiving all!!

 

[george w]

Steve, super shots of branta bernicla! It is encouraging to see that you observed a good number of grey necks among the flocks. That bodes well for our Atlantic sea geese.
We will probably get a few hunts this year for them and bufies in Delaware. The sounds of chains rattling is always music to my ears.
Hopefully, someone in the far north will deem it necessary to become predators of those who take the young.
They have always been a mystery to me, and i know that when they finaly head north, if there is still snow pack, or too much water, they just don't brood.
Here's hoping for a few banner years before there is an imminent closing, to see if reducing hunting pressure helps--I am betting on the northern predators--foxes, gulls and others who take advantage of the little geese.

 

[Jeff Reardon]

Dang, that's gorgeous. Up here, there is a single spot I know where I can sometimes see a brant or two, very late in the season. I wouldn't even consider hunting them there--my bird watching friends might get pretty upset.

I see a few more down around my sister's place in Mass, off the beach near their house.

 

[Larry Eckart]

Beautiful! Beautiful! Beautiful!

 

[Paul F Boundy]

Steve, thanks for such a beautiful set of photos. Just beautiful.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
Best - Paul

 

[Paul Dobrosky]

Steve, Great Photos. Have had many scenes kike your Photos hear in my back yard river.We have a pretty good crop of them here this year, more then last year. Even Though I did not hunt opening day for them ,Checking the local ramps Many hunters had there one bird limit. Hope you have a successful Season. Paul

 

[John Unruh]

Thankyou so much for these Brant pictures , truly a story in itself for these waterfowl, Thanks again from Southern Ontario.
John

 

[Joseph Sarno]

the pictures are beautiful and bring back memories of how i cut my teeth on waterfowling on the the south shore of Li thank u

 

[Keith Bittner]

Hi Steve thanks for the great photos. Gets you thinking of what water fowling is really all about. Getting up to watch a beautiful sunrise and watch birds move around can't get any better than that for me.

 

[peter lowe]

Really nice Steve, with the new pup being so young I haven't been waterfowling like I normally would be. It's nice to see those photos, really takes me there. I always appreciated the wildness of Brant and hope there numbers increase again.

 

[Troy Fields]

Nice photos Steve! I only get the occasional sighting of Brant here. Beautiful birds...Thanks again!

 

[Brent Mason]

Amazing

 

[Anthony Babich]

Great photos Steve, look at those strait horizons!
Nice work as always..