Published Spring 2007

Western High Arctic "Gray Belly" Brant are a unique stock of brant and one of the most rare goose populations in the world numbering less than 10,000.

Maynard Axelson. Founder of the Washington Brant Foundation, has recently been involved in an international effort to monitor the migration of this rare local goose using radio transmitters and satellite technology.

Grey bellies breed in Canada's Parry Islands, migrate along the coast of Alaska, and winter almost exclusively in Puget Sound. Using satellite telemetry, scientists can track individual birds along their migration route. A transmitter is surgically implanted and signals sent to an orbiting satellite and relayed to a data center. Melville Island is the main breeding area, where the birds spread out widely in very harsh habitat. Reproduction can be very low in some years due to extreme weather conditions. Recent tracking showed that some of these birds migrate overland through the Yukon Territory. Because of their later breeding chronology, Western High Arctic Brant migrate after Black Brant in both spring and fall.