By Sally Siko

The Atlantic Brant is a species I’ve been trying to photograph up close for years but with no luck.
Happily I finally had an opportunity to spend time with a flock of them this past January while birding at Barnegat Lighthouse SP in eastern NJ.
Now I know that to some folks out there, these guys are no big deal.
Indeed they are a common sight in the northeast but since I live down in NC, seeing a Brant is pretty special.

I had an absolute blast trying to photograph these guys as they picked at the stuff clinging to the pile of rocks which made up the jetty.
It wasn’t easy though.
The goose’s black heads & necks disappeared against the dark backdrop of the black rocks behind them.
Finding some sort of middle ground with the exposure was key.
In the end, it is what it is photo wise but gosh I’m stoked to add the Brant to my 2024 list!

The Brant’s feed almost exclusively on eelgrass but (as shown in this series of photos) they’ll also dine some aquatic invertebrates, seaweed and sea lettuce. When foraging in agricultural areas they’ll eat grass and winter-sown cereals when available.
Spending a great deal of their time at sea or in coastal areas means that finding freshwater to drink couple pose a problem. Happily these geese have evolved with special glands which remove salt, allowing them to drink ocean water when freshwater is scarce.
That’s pretty cool huh?

Breeding in the Arctic regions of northern Canada, no other goose nests as far north as the Brant. And oh my goodness do they ever fly far south too!
Families of Brant’s which nest in the western arctic, will migrate as far south, as California, while eastern breeders will migrate into New England, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and occasionally (in much smaller numbers) all the way down into North Carolina.
They’ll stick around the coast of New Jersey until mid to late May so you’ve still got plenty of time to go see them before the year is through.

By the way, I’ll be hosting more birding tours in eastern NJ this year so check the calendar below for trip dates and booking info.

Photo by Sally Siko of @bestlife_birding captured on my mighty mirrorless monster, the @canonusa #R5