Black Brant Geese an indicator of wildlife sustainability in the Georgia Basin

What is Happening?

The Black Brant (Branta bernicla nigricans) is a small sea goose that breeds in the Arctic and winters from coastal Alaska south to Mexico (see map). In the early 1900's, thousands of Brant wintered in British Columbia. Up until the late 1940's, Brant were a common winter visitor in the Strait of Georgia north to at least the Courtenay-Comox area. By the 1960's, hunting is believed to have led to their extirpation from most of BC except for a small group wintering on Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) and the Fraser River delta (Campbell et al. 1990). The small wintering Brant population on the Fraser River delta has increased from being virtually absent in the 1980's to almost 2000 birds today. In the winter of 2003-2004, there was a 52% decrease in peak number of winter residents compared to the previous winter but it still represented a 13% increase above the long term (1992-2003) average. Small numbers also continue to winter in Haida Gwaii, where there is no evident long-term trend despite fluctuations from year to year.

Source: A. Breault 2005, Canadian Wildlife Service, Pacific and Yukon Region and K. Hagmeier 2002. Note: the year refers to the season of fall to spring, for example 1990 equals fall 1990 to spring 1991. The wintering numbers for the Fraser River delta are from the Canadian Wildlife Service - Simon Fraser University Fraser River counts while the Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) counts are from the National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Counts.

GRAPH DATA

Brant in British Columbia are part of a larger Pacific Flyway Brant Population which is made up of several smaller stocks wintering along the Pacific coastline from Alaska to Mexico (Sedinger et al. 1994). During the last 2-3 decades, the Pacific Flyway population has generally fluctuated between 100,000 - 150,000 birds. In the last decade, the number of Brant wintering in Washington and Oregon decreased whereas wintering populations in California and British Columbia increased and the Mexico population remained relatively stable.

Source: US Fish and Wildlife Service. 2003. Surveys conducted in January in the Pacific Flyway and Mexico. (See http://migratorybirds.fws.gov/reports/reports.html).

GRAPH DATA

Along the British Columbia coast, Brant occur chiefly as spring migrants although small numbers overwinter. During spring migration, areas of concentration include Boundary Bay and the east coast of Vancouver Island, particularly the Parksville-Qualicum Beach and Comox Harbour areas. Peak numbers occur between mid-March and early May. Smaller numbers also migrate along the west coast of Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii.

Source: K. Hagmeier 2002. Canadian Wildlife Service, Pacific and Yukon Region. Numbers shown are daily shore-based counts in the Fraser River delta area.

The wintering population in Washington is different from all others as it is primarily composed of Grey-bellied Brant. These Brant are believed to only winter in Washington State and to a much lesser extent on the Fraser River delta. The Black Brant, which winter primarily in Mexico with scattered populations along the entire Pacific Coast, breed in the Lower Arctic (e.g. Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Mackenzie delta, and Victoria Island). The Grey-bellied Brant, which primarily winter in Padilla and Samish Bays in the Puget Sound, Washington, breed in the Western Canadian High Arctic (Prince Patrick, Melville and Eglington Islands) (Reed et al. 1989). Although these two stocks have geographical, morphological and genetic differences (Shields 1990) Grey-bellied Brant do not have distinct taxonomic status (Madsen et al. 1999) and have not been managed independently within the Pacific Flyway Brant Population. For more information click this Grey-bellied Brant link.

Why is it Happening?

The northward migrating Brant use the estuaries, beaches, bays and spits in the Strait of Georgia to feed and rest. It is on these staging areas that the geese accumulate the necessary energy reserves that allow them to continue their migration to their Arctic breeding grounds. The distribution of Brant in the Strait is closely related to the distribution of their preferred foods: eel-grass (Zostera spp.) and algae (especially Ulva sp. and Enteromorpha sp.). Pacific herring spawn in March and April and their eggs also provide a rich source of protein and lipids for the geese in spring. As well during their spring and fall migrations to and from their breeding grounds, all Pacific Flyway Brant, including both Black and Grey-bellied Brant, stop at Izembek Lagoon on the Alaska Peninsula for several weeks to rest and forage on high quality eelgrass beds. Izembek Lagoon is a large, protected National Wildlife Refuge managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Up to 20 000 Brant may overwinter there in mild winters.

These foreshore habitats provide abundant food in areas that are relatively free from disturbance. Today, however, the rapid growth of the human population in coastal communities in the Strait of Georgia is cause for concern because of the potential for increased disturbance. If disturbance becomes too great, the Brant could be forced into less favorable habitat which might affect their ability to build up fat reserves. Recent studies in the Parksville-Qualicum Beach area, show that human disturbance is now approaching disturbance levels from their natural predators such as the Bald Eagle (Martin et al. 1996).

Wildlife biologists have marked 8-10% of the Pacific Flyway Population with individually coded, coloured leg-bands (Reed 1997). The leg-band sighting data collected on the Fraser River delta indicate that wintering Brant originate from all Arctic breeding areas. The proportion of Brant from each breeding ground did not change from 1997 to 1999. Leg band and radio telemetry data are also being used to characterize the timing of Brant migration and habitat use in the delta.

Source: K. Hagmeier, 2002 for the 1999 data and E. Reed, Canadian Wildlife Service (unpubl. data) for 1997 and 1998 data.

Leg band data indicate that a majority (78%) of the Brant using the Fraser River delta overwinter.

Why is it Significant?

The spring migration of Brant through the Strait of Georgia has been occurring regularly for millenia. But, as noted above, Brant numbers have been declining in recent decades. This decline may be caused by a number of factors ranging from hunting and human disturbance on their breeding, staging, and wintering grounds to loss of habitat caused by human encroachment and development.

In the Strait of Georgia, some communities have been working to preserve the habitats important to Brant. Since 1991, an annual Brant Festival has been held in the Parksville-Qualicum Beach area of Vancouver Island to celebrate the return of the Brant each spring. The Festival attracts an artistic community of painters, carvers, and photographers as well as bird watchers and wildlife enthusiasts.

Festival organizers have taken special precautions to minimize the potential impacts to the birds. These include having special telescope-equipped viewing sites at suitable distances from the feeding Brant, and special beach patrols to ensure that all dogs are on leashes and that the public does not get too close to the feeding birds. Biologists and naturalists are also on hand to take festival-goers down to the Brant in small groups to watch the birds. As a result, fewer human disturbances to the Brant occur during the Brant Festival than at other times during the Brant's two month stay in the Parksville-Qualicum Beach area.

Each year the Festival has drawn thousands of visitors from all over North America and surveys estimate some $330,000 is added to the local economy during the 3 days of the Festival.

What is Being Done?

The two communities of Qualicum Beach and Parksville have helped ensure that the Brant have a place to stop, rest, and feed on their annual journeys to northern breeding grounds. In 1993, partly as a result of the Brant Festival, some 17 km of intertidal foreshore from the Little Qualicum River in the west to Craig Bay in the east was protected by the Province and declared The Parksville-Qualicum Beach Wildlife Management Area. On November 10, 2000, about 800 km2 of land encompassing these two communities and about 400 square km of marine area were designated Canada's tenth biosphere reserve under the Man and Biosphere (MAB) Program of the United Nations' Educational, Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This area is now called the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Reserve. The biosphere reserve carries no legal status nor any regulatory or management authority but it helps to promote scientific research, monitoring and education. Therefore local communities are better equipped to participate in the sustainable management of their environment and reconcile tensions between protecting environmental attributes and pursuing economic development. The official dedication ceremony for the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Reserve was made during the 2001 Brant Wildlife Festival in Parksville. At the same time, the BC Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks announced an addition of 19 km2 (156 ha) of riparian and riverine habitats to the Parksville-Qualicum Wildlife Management Area.

It is important to stress, however, that the Black Brant depend not only on their staging habitats in British Columbia, but also on their breeding habitat in Alaska and wintering areas in Mexico. Major impacts to the latter areas, as a result of increased disturbance or erosion of habitat through development, would negatively affect Brant populations throughout the Pacific Flyway. Black Brant numbers are dependent on the continued cooperation of these three countries to maintain habitat and ensure that, generations from now, this talkative little sea goose will still be found in the bays, lagoons, and estuaries of the Pacific Flyway.

For more information contact: Andre.Breault@ec.gc.ca or Sean.Boyd@ec.gc.ca

Check the following sites for additional information on this indicator:

• Canadian Wildlife Service Brant Information
• Wild Species 2000 - overview of status of Canada's species.

The following Web sites are not under the control of Environment Canada (EC) and they are provided solely for the convenience of users. Environment Canada is not responsible for the accuracy, currency or the reliability of the content. Environment Canada does not offer any guarantee in that regard and is not responsible for the information found through these links, nor does it endorse the sites and their content. Users should be aware that information offered by non Government of Canada sites that are not subject to the Official Languages Act, and to which Environment Canada links, may be available only in the language(s) used by the sites in question.

• Washington Brant Foundation Grey-bellied Brant
• Birds of B.C. - Brant Geese
• Brant Wildlife Festival - Parksville-Qualicum Beach, B.C.
• Washington Brant Festival, Blaine Wash.
• Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Reserve
• Human Disturbance to Waterfowl
• USGS Patuxent Bird Information- Brant
• US Fish and Wildlife
• Izembek National Wildlife Refuge
• Goose Bibliography

For references used in this indicator click here.