International Brant Monitoring Project
Observation Logs:

2000/2001 Observations

2000/2001 Observations

Date Location Observers Count Percent Juveniles Notes
Sept. 27-Oct. 2 OTHER OTHER 137,000 N/A 1
Oct. 17 OTHER OTHER 75 N/A 2
Nov.02,00 Delta, B.C. Richard Swanston 7 28.5 3
Nov. 3 Morro Bay, CA John Roser 74 N/A 4
Nov 3 OTHER OTHER 27 N/A 5
Nov. 5 Morro Bay, CA John Roser -- N/A 6
Nov. 7, 2000 Padilla Bay, WA Bay View School 28 NA 7
Nov 6 OTHER OTHER 4 0 8
Nov. 10 Morro Bay, CA John Roser 164 N/A 9
Nov 11 OTHER OTHER 34 29 10
Nov 14 OTHER OTHER 350 N/A 11
Nov 14 OTHER OTHER 1000 N/A 12
Nov. 16 Morro Bay, CA John Roser 1,200 N/A 13
Nov.19 Delta, B.C. Richard Swanston 67 20.8 14
Nov. 21 2000 Padilla Bay, WA Bay View School 40-50 N/A 15
Nov 21 OTHER OTHER 125 N/A 16
Nov. 23 Morro Bay, CA John Roser 2,200 N/A 17
Nov. 30 Morro Bay, CA John Roser 2,800 N/A 18
Nov 24 Delta, B.C. Richard Swanston 300 N/A 19
Nov 28 Delta, B.C. Richard Swanston 550 N/A 20
Nov 30 Delta, B.C. Richard Swanston 446 29 21
Dec.04,00. Delta, B.C. Richard Swanston 662 N/A 22
Dec. 5 Padilla Bay, WA Bay View School 200-400 (approximately) N/A 23
November Estero la Bocana, Baja Cal. Branta SudCalifornia P.A.E.B. N/A n/a 24
November 11, San Ignacio Lagoon, Baja Cal. Club Internacional Branta 203 N/A 25
Dec. 13 Padilla Bay, WA Bay View School 32 N/A 26
Dec. 17 Morro Bay, CA John Roser 3,000 N/A 27
1/3/01 Padilla Bay, WA Bay View School 135 N/A 28
1/3/01 Padilla Bay, WA Bay View School 135 N/A 29
Jan. 6 Morro Bay, CA John Roser 2,979 N/A 30
Jan. 9 2001 Padilla Bay, WA Bay View School 310 N/A 31
Jan. 11 OTHER OTHER 13 N/A 32
Jan. 19 2001 Padilla Bay, WA Bay View School 52 N/A 33
Jan. 19 OTHER OTHER 150 NA 34
Jan. 20 Morro Bay, CA John Roser 3,320 N/A 35
Jan. 24 Padilla Bay, WA Bay View School aprrox. 615 N/A 30 were seen 36
Jan 22 Delta, B.C. Richard Swanston 400 N/A 37
Jan 30 Padilla Bay, WA Bay View School 90-100 N/A 38
Feb. 1 Morro Bay, CA John Roser 4,400 N/A 39
Jan.29 01 Delta, B.C. Richard Swanston 249 N/A 40
Jan. 31,01 Delta, B.C. Richard Swanston 48 14.5 41
Feb09,01 Delta, B.C. Richard Swanston N/A N/A 42
Feb. 12 Morro Bay, CA John Roser 3,850 N/A 43
Feb 19 Delta, B.C. Richard Swanston 1400 25% 44
Feb 21 Coos Bay, OR Charleston Elementary School N/A N/A 45
Feb. 26 Morro Bay, CA John Roser 3,700 N/A 46
Feb. 03 San Ignacio Lagoon, Baja Cal. Club Internacional Branta 450 N/A 47
Feb. 04 San Ignacio Lagoon, Baja Cal. Club Internacional Branta 1350 N/A 48
Dec. 29 San Ignacio Lagoon, Baja Cal. Club Internacional Branta 1450 N/A 49
Dec. 23 San Ignacio Lagoon, Baja Cal. Club Internacional Branta 1250 N/A 50
Feb. 27 Padilla Bay, WA Bay View School 141 N/A 51
Mar. 6 Padilla Bay, WA Bay View School 0 NA 52
Mar. 11 Morro Bay, CA John Roser 3,700 N/A 53
Mar.12,01 Delta, B.C. Richard Swanston 3188 N/A 54
Mar. 13 Padilla Bay, WA Bay View School 75-125 (estimate) NA 55
Mar 1 OTHER OTHER 22 14 56
Mar 11 Delta, B.C. Richard Swanston 200 N/A 57
Mar 9 Coos Bay, OR Charleston Elementary School 75 N/A 58
Mar 14 Coos Bay, OR Charleston Elementary School 400 N/A 59
Feb. 14 Estero la Bocana, Baja Cal. Branta SudCalifornia P.A.E.B. 750 10.71% 60
Jan. 20 Estero la Bocana, Baja Cal. Branta SudCalifornia P.A.E.B. 109 N/A 61
Mar. 4 Estero la Bocana, Baja Cal. Branta SudCalifornia P.A.E.B. 250 20% 62
Mar 03 OTHER OTHER 1000 N/A 63
Mar. 20 Padilla Bay, WA Bay View School 141 N/A 64
Mar. 23 Morro Bay, CA John Roser 2,500 N/A 65
Mar. 31 Morro Bay, CA John Roser 1,400 N/A 66
Apr. 1 Morro Bay, CA John Roser --- N/A 67
Apr. 3 Padilla Bay, WA Bay View School 3,500 N/A 68
apr. 12 Coos Bay, OR Charleston Elementary School ~350 N/A 69
April 13,2001 Coos Bay, OR Charleston Elementary School ~360 N/A 70
Apr. 14 Morro Bay, CA John Roser 126 N/A 71
Apr. 22 OTHER OTHER 13,090 N/A 72
Apr. 23 Morro Bay, CA John Roser 17 N/A 73
Apr. 26 Padilla Bay, WA Bay View School 3,500 - 4,000 N/A 74
Apr. 28 OTHER OTHER -- N/A 75
May1,2001 Delta, B.C. Richard Swanston 738 N/A 76
May 3 Padilla Bay, WA Bay View School 4,000 - 4,500 n/a 77
May 3 Padilla Bay, WA Bay View School 4,000 - 4,500 n/a 78
May 4,2001 Delta, B.C. Richard Swanston 958 N/A 79
May 8 Padilla Bay, WA Bay View School 2,710 n/a 80
May 15 Padilla Bay, WA Bay View School 2,200 n/a 81
May 21,01 Delta, B.C. Richard Swanston 30 N/A 82


Notes:


 1. These observations were sent to me by Chris Doa at Izembek Refuge. The brant were counted during surveys done on the Yukon Delta south to Cole Bay. There will be a couple more surveys. Just wanted to let everyone know the latest brant news I've heard!
-Keelan Morse-McPhee
Padilla Bay Reserve

 2. >From: "Michael Polak"
>Subject: Sightings in Ontario
>Date: Wed, Oct 18, 2000, 5:47 AM
>

>
>
>Hi, yesterday (October 17/00) my wife and I saw a flock of Brants in Ajax
>Ontario. There were about 75 - 100 and they were on the shore of Lake Ontario
>most of the day. They have just put grass seed on the green belt where we saw
>them and it looked like they were eating that. Since neither of us are really
>bird watchers I called my father, who confirmed that they were indeed Brants.
>Anyway, I thought it was something I had to tell someone, so here you go.
>Thanks

 3. Location Boundary Bay Regional Park Tsawwassen Delta , B.C. Canada .
All birds Observed for Bands none seen . One Pair with 2 Juv. . With
what appeared to be another pair with No young and a single bird .
They were Obs. for about 1/2 to 3/4 of an hour as the conditions were Calm
Clear Temp. about 10 to 12 degrees C. Thousands of Widgeon , Mallards ,
Pintail , Green wing teal in the Bay .
Have a Good Season Richard



 4. The slow trickle of arriving brant here in Morro Bay now totals 74 - no big influx yet.

 5. On friday nov. 3rd 22 brant were inside humboldt bay at about 5 pm a group
of 5 more flew in from the ocean. Just wanted to try and give you some
information from northern California. Will try and give more information
through the about the middle of December.
Jerry Thissell
Eureka, Ca.


 6. I just wanted to share an interesting band resighting I had in Morro Bay today. I saw an individual today (Aqua LY3) for the third time in three years. The only dates I've ever seen this bird are 11/7/98, 11/6/99, and today, 11/5/00. In previous years it has also been seen in Mexico after stopping here. There are many individuals that I pick up at roughly the same time each year but the timing this bird and I have for each other is remarkable.

 7. Last week, Russ Cannif, a local wildlife biologist, went on a waterfowl air survey. He saw 28 brant in Padilla and Samish bays. He says the waterfowl are slower to arrive here this year than they were last year. Other news: 300+ birds were banded on Melville Island (in Northern Canada) this year. The new bands are dark blue, and they have hearts on them.
-Keelan, Padilla Bay Reserve

 8. The birds that were seen in humboldt bay on Nov 3 had left on sunday 11/5/00 headed
south.On 11/6/00 a group of four adults came into the bay at around 4:00 p.m.
no bands were sighted. On 11/10/00 the season will be opening here and I plan
on trying to get as many hunters as I canto give me information about the
numbers of birds they see as well as any band numbers that they might have
harvested.
Jerry Thissell
Eureka, Ca.

 9. We are still experiencing only very small increases here in Morro Bay - no big jump. I talked to one of the researchers in San Quintin a couple of days ago and their numbers are still very low - only a couple of thousand so far.

 10. Just wanted to let people know how many birds have been enterring the
bay so far. The number of birds seems to be alot lower then they have been in
the past for this time of year. Some of the people I have talked to say that
it is because the birds are able to rest on the ocean and are not forced to
stop at the bay to rest.
I watched all day on Saturday Nov. 11 and watched about 25 birds fly past
the bay at 7:45 a.m. and 9 birds flew out of the bay at 9:00 a.m. of the 34
birds 10 were juvenile birds. No bands were visible.
Jerry Thissell
Eureka, Ca

 11. On Monday afternoon approximately 300 birds came into the bay, no bands were
observed. Just before dark about 100 of the birds left the bay. On Tuesday
morning by 11:00 a.m. there were about 350 birds that came into the bay and
one group of about 100 birds was seen flying past the bay. Some of my
friends will be on the bay for most of the day today so I should have more
information to send possibly this evening.
Jerry Thissell
Eureka, Ca.


 12. After 11:00 A.M. on Tuesday 11/14/00 an additional (approximately) 1000 plus
brant came into Humboldt bay. The hunters that I talked to said that the
birds flew into the center of the bay and landed where they could rest and eat
the eel grass that grows in the bay. There were perhaps 150 birds that flew
by the bay but never entered.
With hunting season open it will be extremely hard to get band numbers
and juvenile numbers but I will try to get this information when I can.
Jerry Thissell
Eureka, Ca.

 13. Morro Bay numbers jumped by about 1,000 early this week. The timing correlates well with the reported large departure from Izembek last weekend. Also, David Ward reported his field crew in San Quintin noted that 20,000 brant come in overnight on Tuesday.

 14. Sunday on a Bright Clear Morning in Boundary Bay 67 birds were seen with
about 30 to 45 birds hauling out at close range 6 Bands observed .
W/B -3N , Aqua Band NL8 , 2 Red Bands one was A2G , AND a PAIR of
Yellow Banded Birds One -AA THE other one had a RADIO ANTENNA sticking out
from its rear Feathers . We have had little wind here for about a week
and clear cold nights down to -4 C. Ice is starting to form along the
High Water Mark in the Bay . We are use to having SE gales and rain at
this time of the year that is good Brant Weather !

 15. We were the first group from Bayview School to go on the Brant trip. Our names are Chrisit Wells, Anna Waiser, Matt Thomas, and Matt Sadlowsky. Today the weather was sunny and warm. This is unusual for Washington this time of year. On our trip we saw 40 to 50 brant at the Swinomish slough. The brant were very far away and there were a lot of types of birds in the water as well, so it was very hard to count the brant. We saw them at the third place we visited. The first places we went to included Camp Kirby and North Samish Island. We did not see any brant there but we did see cormorants, ducks, gulls, mergansers, and three seals! While are group was driving in the van, we saw many birds of prey, including the Red-Tailed hawk, Rough legged hawk, Eagles, Northern harriers, and a Perigrine falcon

 16. There have not been too many brant coming into the bay for the last week until
today, one hunter I talked to said about 125 birds came into the bay this
morning and there was an albino brant with the group. The bird was all white
exept for black feet and beak and rusty brown shoulders.
Jerry Thissell
Eureka, Ca


 17. Our population went up by about a thousand birds this week. I just returned from Bahia San Quintin and their count for 11/21 was about 25,000.

 18. The Thanksgiving holiday weekend here in Morro Bay was clear, warm and calm. This weather brought out large numbers of hunters and recreational boaters in canoes and kayaks. The disturbance rates were so high that on Saturday the entire population left the bay for the open ocean. This is the first time I've noted that behavior here in four years of regular observations.

 19. This morning we had over 300 Brant in Boundary Bay Delta , B.C. All the
brant in the group that hauled out were Black Bellies. MANY birds were out
of the water and 12 to 14 Bands were read with another 2 to 3 observed. One
Pair we have been seeing the last few days have been Y/B -AA and it's mate
that has a Radio Mounted on it. Today I managed to finally read it to
confirm it as Y/B 8H1 a bird observed in Boundary bay many times with -AA
last winter. We have been seeing this pair in company of TWO juvenile birds
BOTH banded with a strange colour band. In some light conditions they
APPEAR burgundy in colour other conditions BLACK. They have white codes:
A2G and A4L. What is the colour anyway? Byron the other observer is
convinced that it's Black and doesn't see the red to it at all. This
morning was a little different in that the two Y/B birds appeared on the
beach with a large group of birds and after a quick look around NO juvenile birds with B/W Bands! But after other groups flew in 2 B/W juveniles appeared and stayed close to the two Y/B birds again!

Richard Swanston Delta , B.C. rickswan@netcom.ca # 309 5545 15 B Delta B.C. Canada VRM 2H2


 20. Byron Andres CWS/SFU and I saw Radio Bird 8H1 again today with its mate Y/B -AA. They were with the same group of 2 banded juvenile birds. We are ALMOST certain this is a family group. We also saw our first Grey Belly for this winter, only one bird. Byron picked up about 7 - 10 bands I think today among them 2 up side down Aqua Bands that presented a real challenge to read! An Orange and Black band EVV That we have been seeing on several outings and not positive about until today a bird seen in boundary bay for years , along with G/W L1N and W/B GVY, both old timers in the Bay. At one time I had 78 birds out of the water with not a band to be seen . Richard

 21. Again today the Radio Bird, Y/B 8H1 and it's Mate -AA. Juvenile Birds B/W A4L and A2G were observed.
Today another juvenile bird [not associated with the above family, I believe] B/W A0R was also seen along with B/W Bands: KGA, 2GL, T25, and E9N.
White Band; -3N
This at 14:58 with 168 Brant out of the Water of which 52 were juvenile (31%).
Total count of birds near the Pump House in the SW portion of the Bay 278 of which 78 were juvenile (28%).

The Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) and Simon Fraser University (SFU) sponsor Byron's work. As for me this Brant stuff is a Hobby/obsession. Boundary Bay is an incredible place.
Richard
Boundary Bay Delta, B.C. Canada


 22. Boundary Bay 12/04/00. Today for the first time this Winter
Radio Bird White Band Z6K and it's mate White Band Z1S were sighted
This pair had been seen all last Winter [1999.] in the Delta area . It has
been seen at least from Dec. 15,94. on , during most Winters in Delta
along with it's mate . Are first GRAY BELLIES were seen this weekend with
several family groups appearing .
UNFORTUNATELY one Juvenile gray brant had a blotch of dark
oil matted on it's feathers . Another juvenile black belly and an adult
bird had matting feathers on the belly . These bird fly to the beach
quickly after the flock has been flushed and haul out well before the
other birds haul out . Any other reports of sick or oiled birds ?
Richard Swanston Delta , B.C. Canada



 23. Hello branting friends. We are Barbara, Linda, Barry, and Andrew from Bayview Elementary School in Burlington, WA. When we went observing on December 5th, 2000 we saw many different types of birds. There were Bald Eagles, Red tailed hawks, Rough legged hawks, Ravens, Northern harrier hawks, and many more. We also saw 200 to 400 brant. (They were very far away, so this is an approximation. We tried hard to get closer but we couldn't get a good view). When we were observing we saw hunters, and brant on land as well as swimming in flocks and flying. They were far away from the hunters. In two other places we went there was more wind and no brant, but in places with better weather, there were brant.
Keep in touch, and happy branting!

 24. En el mes de noviembre se hicieron 2 salidas, los dias 18 y 25. En el primero fueron estudiantes de 3er. grado y en el segundo se sumaron también de 1 y 2 de secundaria. El primer día se vieron pocas Brantas en La Bocana y un poco más en El Coyote. También vimos una cria de ballena gris de aproximadamente 3 años, dentro del Estero. Ya realizamos un periodico mural en la biblioteca de nuestra comunidad. Les estaremos enviando fotgrafías mas adelante. Estamos solicitando a quienes puedan donarnos alguna camiseta para ser parte de nuestra colección de cosas relacionadas con el proyecto, ya sea de otro participante, o sitios, en fin de cualquier lugar. Si alguine tiene alguna que nos pueda donar, por favor envienla a Pro Esteros y ellos nos las haran llegar. Gracias de antemano.
GRUPO PAEB.
In November we had 2 field trips, on the 18 and 25. During the first one there were only students from the 3rd grade of secondary and during the second trip, students from 1st. and 2nd. grades joined the group. In the first trip we saw very few Brants and a little more in the second one, inside Estero El Coyote. We also saw a baby whale, proably 3 years old. We develop a bulleting board in the library of our community. We will be sending you some pictures.
We are interested in receiving T-Shirts from other sites, to be part of a collection of items related to the project, participants, other sites, etc., so if anyone can donate some for our collection, please send them to Pro Esteros and they will get them to us. Thanks in advance. GRUPO PAEB

 25. Salimos rumbo a la Laguna de San Ignacio cerca de las 12:00 pm. y llegamos a la laguna cerca de las 5:00 pm., saludamos a la familia que amablemente nos recibió. Despues de instalar el campamento, tuvimos una reunión y después hicimos grupos para realizar un recorrido por la playa donde contamos aproximadamente 155 Brantas, entre jovenes y adultas. Desgraciademente no pudimos observar ningún anillo, puesto que se encontraban nadando y también vimos una parvada de sarapicos que descansaban a la orilla de la playa. Al hacer el recorrido aprovechamos para recolectar basura. Al siguiente día solamente observamos 48 Brantas, tambien vimos sarapicos, pelicanos, gaviotas, patos buzos, entre otras. Esperamos que nuestra experiencia les sea util. Prometemos enviarles fotografías en otro momento.
Atentamente
ECO-AMICOS CALAFIA
We departed toward San Ignacio Lagoon arround noon, and got there at 5:00 p.m. We greeted the family that kindly received us. After instaling the camp, we had a meeting and after that we walk in the beach and saw155 Brants but unfurtunately we could not saw any band because they were in the water. We also saw a flock of long-billed culew, resting along the beach. The next day while we were in the beach, we also pick up trash we found there and we only saw 48 Brants. There were also long-billed curlews, pelicans, gulls, ducks among other birds. We hope this information is usefull to you and we will keep you informed from San Ignacio Lagoon. We promes to send some pictures in the future.
Corodially
ECO-AMIGOS CALAFIA

 26. Greetings! We are four 8th grade students named Aubree, Brittany, Alex, and Josh. On our trip we sighted 32 brant. At least some of them were juveniles. We sighted these in binocular range in two different places. One of these places was camp Kirby, where we saw four brant flying by, two of which were juveniles. On the arrival of our second place we saw 28 brant. The brant flew behind the spit due to hunters in the area (hunting for ducks), making it too difficult to count the number of juveniles in the flock, but we were able to see them pretty close. On the way to our places we saw a variety of raptors, including an Osprey, a Falcon, Bald eagles, hawks and Great blue herons. We were unfortunate not to see any brant at our second stop, but we did see other water birds, including buffelheads. In conclucsion, we had a successful branting trip. Happy branting! -Bay View 8th grade

 27. Our population increase in Morro Bay has leveled off at 2,800 to 3,000 brant for about the last 3 weeks now. Brant season was over on Dec. 10th, but the last two days of hunting drove the entire population off of the bay during their low tide feeding period. The brant flew to the open ocean and rafted in a dense flock about 1 mile offshore. As soon as darkness fell they all returned to the bay.

 28. Hello. Our names are Tabitha, Nichol, Mike, and Scott, from Bayview Elementary School. On our trip we saw many different birds. For example, we saw 4 Northern Harrier Hawks, 13 Great Blue Herons, and an immature Bald Eagle. A witnessing moment was when several Bald Eagles swooped down over the flock of brant! This disturbed the brant, causing about 100 of them to fly away. This happened at the Swinomish Slough. The brant were feeding before the eagles came. At our first stop we saw 35 brant flying by.

 29. Hello. Our names are Tabitha, Nichol, Mike, and Scott, from Bayview Elementary School. On our trip we saw many different birds. For example, we saw 4 Northern Harrier Hawks, 13 Great Blue Herons, and an immature Bald Eagle. A witnessing moment was when several Bald Eagles swooped down over the flock of brant! This disturbed the brant, causing about 100 of them to fly away. This happened at the Swinomish Slough. The brant were feeding before the eagles came. At our first stop we saw 35 brant flying by.

 30. Morro Bay's brant population has been fairly stable at around 3,000 for the last month. This period of stability coincides with a stable period occurring at the same time last year which was followed by several weeks of a steadily increasing population that began in mid-January. We'll see if that trend repeats itself this year.

 31. Hi, we are Brenden, Colin, Danielle, and Amelia. On our field trip, we saw many brant, as well as a wide variety of other wildlife. We saw the most brant at North Samish, estimated about 190. They were very far off in the bay, so we were not able to calculate the percent juveniles. We could make out 30 juvenile brant at Camp Kirby, our first stop, as well as 90 other brant. We didn't see any brant at Swinomish Slough, but we did see hundreds of Pintail ducks there. Other birds we saw on our trip were Rough-legged hawks, Bald eagles, Pintail Ducks, and more. As students at Bayview, we are fortunate enough to live around wetlands (their habitat), but until we went branting we did not know what type of extraordinary wildlife lived near us. Happy branting to our fellow branters!
-8th grade classes of Bayview School, WA

 32. I saw this flock of 13 Brant off of Brunswick Point, in Delta, BC. They were quite far away, and flying around in circles. They eventually landed for a brief stay, and then departed the area. The birds were too far away to see any bands or juveniles.

 33. During our 5 hour branting trip, in which we travelled to Camp Kirby, North Samish, and Swinomish Slough, we saw a variety of birds. We saw about 52 brant- all of them were quite far away. We saw them both swimming and flying. Other birds we saw were 6 red-tail hawks, 16 Great Blue Herons, 3 Northern harrier hawks, 1 falcon, 3 surf scoters, 2 Goldeneyes, and 1 Rough-Legged hawk, as well as hundreds of ducks of many varieties- mostly Pintails. While travelling, we saw a Heron nesting colony that particularly interested us. In conclusion, we enjoyed our brant trip!
Sincerely,
Kendra Lynne Hall, Joey Luvera, Keillan Leigh Mannella, and Andre O' Hern

 34. I visited the delta coal port today to find quite a few Brant. There was very little wind and it was absolutely POURING rain. There was one large flock of about 70 birds that was flying around for a bit and then they eventually settled down. There were also many Brant scattered in the bay, mostly cruising around and picking bits of food off of the surface. The Brant were mixed in with thousands of ducks. All of the Brant were fairly far away from shore and therefore observation of bands/juveniles wasn't possible.

 35. Our numbers in Morro Bay are up a few hundred since the beginning of the month. Perhaps this is our first sign of northward migration.

 36. As we travelled to our destination we spotted many birds of prey on the telephone pole, trees, signs, and on the farmland. We saw such birds as Bald eagles, Red tailed hawks, Great blue herons, and a Peregrine falcon. When we arrived at our first location (Camp Kirby) we spotted two flocks of brant, with a total number of 485. We were able to identify 30 juveniles, but many of the birds were not close enough. At our next location we were unable to spot any brant, but we did end up seeing Common goldeneyes, Common mergansers, and two Buffleheads. Then at Swinomish Slough we saw approximatey 130 brant in the water. Some of them were behind the spit, so it was hard to get an accurate number. We also saw Pintails and Mallards. While examining the brant through our spotting scopes, we noticed them grooming, eating, and swimming. One interesting the we saw was three cormorants drifting on a log. When the log approached a flock of 275 brant, the brant seemed to be frightened and they all flew away.
Written by:
Kellye LaMonte
Amanda Jamison
Matthew Thomas
Kyle Thomas


 37. 01/22/01 Boundary Bay in Delta, B.C. Canada
East-Southeast wind at 8 Knots, Clear skies, temperature: 2 degrees C
08:08 - About 40 flying just off the beach near the pump house where I view brant. There's a bald eagle nearby on an electric pole.
08:22 - More brant arrived, total: 63. I was able to identify 13 for race: 5 gray belly brant, 8 black brant.
08:28 - A Bald Eagle disturbed the flock.
08:32 - Of 97 counted, 27 were Juvenile.
08:36 - Nine more black brant observed in flight.
08:40 to 08:52 - Numerous Bald Eagle disturbances.
09:00 - 86 viewed for race of which 36 were gray belly brant
09:01 - Another bald eagle disturbance.
09:06 - Total count at the pump house: 248 with 5 gray belly brant out of the water, no bands.
09:13 - 96 viewed for race 22 of those were gray belly brant. Bands observed include: 2 white bands with blue letters (W/B), 1 green with white letters (G/W), 1 red with white letters (R/W)
09:17 - Bald eagle disturbance
09:24 - Total Count in the Western Bay: 420
09:26 - White Bands: Z1S (ab 2) and Radio Bird and mate Z6K
(ab1.5) (ab 1, ab 1.5, and ab 2 refer to a measure of the rear abdomen)
Yellow Banded, Left Leg; 016 (ab2)
Aqua Band: NL8 (ab1)
09:32 - 80 Viewed for race of which 26 were gray belly brant
Blue bands, left leg - heart 30 (ab2) and possibly its mate heart 32 (ab1.5) Both black brant
09:45 - Counted 212 of which 71 were gray belly brant. Before completing the count there was a Bald Eagle disturbance.
10:03 - Counted 396 in the Western Bay.
10:13 - 78 Viewed for race of which 20 were gray belly brant
10:17 - Counted 191 of which 33 were juvenile just prior to a disturbance caused by 2 great blue herons fighting.
10:37 - 113 viewed of which 31 were gray belly brant. Yellow band 016 (again)
10:42 All the brant depart due to bald eagle disturbance.

Note: on Sunday Jan. 21, 01 I observed 3 gray belly brant in what I believe was the 3 bird mating flight. It started with 2 birds fighting on the water then as one flew off the others chased it around the bay, at times fighting in the air. When they landed, the fight continued. One of the birds swam off alone while the other two swam off together.


 38. Today, the four of us, Shawna (13), Justin (14), Ryan (14), and Kalee (13) went branting. We went to Padilla Bay Interpretive Center, picked up our scopes, and headed out to Samish Island. On our way we saw hawks and eagles of many shapes and sizes. Some of the hawks we saw were Red-tailed, Rough legged, and Northern harrier. When we arrived at our location (Camp Kirby) we saw 90-100 brant. It was very stormy weather, with high tides. When watching the brant, we couldn't tell whether they were adults or juveniles, because they were far away and they were bobbing up and down in the water.

 39. Today's count in Morro Bay was the highest I've had in the four field seasons I've been doing population monitoring here. Our eelgrass beds were at an all time low four years ago (due in large part to a big wildfire in the watershed followed by a record breaking flood and a huge sedimentaion event). Since then they have recovered substantially, regaining new acreage each year. The brant population has followed this recovery. Last year my high count was just under 3,800 on 2/7/00.

 40. Jan. 29,01. I went for a trip to Birch Bay Washington State about 20'
South of the Canada U.S. Border where I counted 249 Brant in the Bay.
At the Birch Bay State Park there were 4 Gray Bellied
Brant of which 2 were Juv. Birds they came out of the water but there
was no Bands .
Yours Richard

 41. 01/31/01 Birch Bay Washington State Although there were a total 266 Brant
counted in the Bay with 114 Hauled out on the North side of the Bay . I could
not access them. As in Washington State Land Owners own property rights below
the High Water Mark . And the 114 Brant were inside a Gated Community and on
Private Property . At Birch Bay State Park there were 48 birds of which
7 were Juv. Yellow Band 8V8 Blue Band L7H White Bands ; -T7 , -40
were read With 42 birds out of the water All Black Brant .
Later with 51 Birds of which 9 were Juv. 3 Gray Bellied Brant
were seen off which 2 were Juv. Gray Bellies .
Earlier the same day At Boundary Bay , Delta B.C. 463 Brant
were counted 3 Yellow Bands were read one 8H1 a Radio equiped bird with it's
Mate -AA . 5 Blue bands and 1 Aqua Band HHL a bird seen several times
in Boundary Bay sence 1997 . At one time 24 Gray Bellied Brant were seen
. Yours Richard Swanston Delta , B.C. Canada

 42. 02/09/01 Good Day On Friday Morning at Boundary Bay Delta , B.C.
there was just a small amount of snow left on the ground from a dump
of Wet ugly snow from a cold front that has stalled over Southern B.C.
But there was little wind and a nice falling tide with aprox 200+ brant
off the beach . Kate Hagmeier and I were able to read at least 11 Bands

One a Blue Band White symbols ; Heart Shape6S was banded by Sean Boyd CWS
this summer high up in the Canadain Arctic Islands . It was a Gray Bellied
Bird possibly with a unbanded mate .

Four other banded birds have been sighted many times this Winter
Yellow Banded Birds -AA and it's Radio equipped Mate 8H1 Along with
there Juvinile birds Black Bands ; A4L and A2G .

Also seen Aqua Bands ZHS and ZH9 Yellow Band ZLK
Blue Bands ; 5KE , 245 , ARG , VGN ,

Of interest was that after the birds had flushed out and more had returned
a total of 124 birds came out of the water and none were banded ?

 43. I received an email today saying that researchers in San Quintin Bay noted that they have recently lost detectable numbers of brant which suggests that many of their birds are moving north.

 44. 02/19/01 A very large flock of brant were seen feeding just west of the Semiahmoo Spit - northeast of Birch Point. They were with scooters or scaup. They were stretched in a line. It would be impossible to count this group but my estimate would be 1400 to 1800 birds. Off to the East, near the town of White Rock and well out in the middle of the bay the area was full of loons, grebes, scooters, and other birds.
16:14 - At the pump house at Boundary Bay Regional Park with strong west-northwest winds at 24 knots, clear sky , and the tide at about 8.5 Feet I did not expect to see any brant. But after checking the bay and seeing no brant, just after turning to leave I did one more sweep and saw 35 to 45 birds flying by. They wheeled around for 5 minutes before leaving. All were black belly brant, identified in flight.
16:30 - Lines of brant well out in the Bay. Then coming into the area, again wheeling for 5 minutes before leaving the area.
16:41 - Another 250 to 300 birds entered the area.
16:52 - 126 of this group lands in the water. A white band was observed including several gray belly brant. Soon most of them flew away.
17:16 - 27 brant remained, 7 were gray belly brant, 5 were juvenile.
17:24 - 17 brant were out of the water. No bands were seen.
17:46 - They left.

Just a thought: Maybe there were so many brant off Semiahmoo because of uman activity caused by the combination of GREAT WEATHER and an American holiday weekend. This brings large numbers of people to the Birch Bay area.

Yours, Richard Swanston Delta

 45. We have not seen any brant here, but we know they should arrive soon. We are very anxious! We went to the Bay today to look. It was raining so hard that we went back to school. We will let you know when we see brant!

Nosotros no hemos visto cualquier brantas aqui, pero sabemos que ellos llega pronto. Estamos muy ansiosos! Fuimos a la Bahia para mirar hoy, pero llovia tan dura que volivimos a la escuela. Permitiremos que usted sabra cuando vemos brantas!

 46. Yesterday I saw my first 'Gray-Belly' of the '00/'01 season. That makes the 9th individual in 4 years of regular observations.

 47. Hola amigos:
nuevamente les reportamos nuestras actividades durante nuestro último viaje a la Laguna de San Ignacio.
el día 3 de febrero salimos en la tarde del poblado de San Ignacio hacia la Laguna (2:30 a 3 horas de camino)y llegamos a las 5:00 p.m., luego nos pusimos a contar Brantas. Esa tarde contamos aproximadamente 450. Después de esa actividad nos dispusimos a reunirnos para comentar nuestras experiencias. ECO-AMIGOS CALAFIA
Hi friends:
Againg we are reporting our actiivities, during our last trip to San Ignacio Lagoon.
On February 3rd. in the afternoon we leave the town San Ignacio to go to the lagoon (2:30 to 3 hrs drive) and we arrived there at 5:00 p.m., then we star counting Brants. That evening we count close to 450. After that activity we got together to talked about our experiences. ECO-AMIGOS CALAFIA

 48. El día 4 de febrero hicimos un recorrido bastante largo, desde un lugar llamado La Cuevita, hasta el campo ecoturístico KUYIMA (aprox. 6km.) en este trayecto nos encotramos Brantas alimentandose y otras nadando (aprox. 1350) fue una experiencia inolvidable. Después de terminar como de costumbre nos reunimos, lonchamos y después nos regresmos.
Saludos cordiales de parte de los ECO-AMIGOS CALAFIA
On Feb. 4th., we had a very long walk, from a place called La Cuevita (small cave) to the turist camp KUYIMA (near 6km.) during this long walk we saw Brants feeding and swiming (close to 1350)it was an incredible experiennce. After we finished we got together as usual, had our lunch and after that we came back to the town. Best regards from your friends ECO-AMIGOS CALAFIA.

 49. Este día salimos de San Ignacio, un grupo de cuatro observadores pues ibamos a pasar unos días de vacaciones en la Laguna San Ignacio con nuestra amiga Mónica y aprovechamos para hacer un conteo de Brantas.
Fuimos al lugar donde se encuentrn las Brantas para realizar el conteo y entre todos observamos un número aproximado de 1450 Brantas. Es importane mencionar que también miramos otra aves tales como gaviotas, peelícanos, aquila pescadora, zarapicos, etc.
This day four observers left for San Ignacio Lagoon, as we were going to spend a few day of vacations with our friend Monica and we decided to also mdo some Brant counting. We went to a spot were the Brants were and we count 1450. Is important to mention that we also saw other birds, like gulls, pelicans, osprays, wilets, etc.

 50. En esta salida solamente participamos como observadores Mónica y Marisa. Salimos al lugar en donde observamos Brantas como a las 17:00 hrs. y contamos aproximadamente 1250 entre jóvenes y adultas. Es una gran experiencia. También les informamos que ya están haciendo su arribo las ballenas grices a la Laguna de San Ignacio. Después les informaremos cosas nuevas. ECO-AMIGOS CALAFIA
For this fild trip only Monica and Marisa were observers. We left fot the observation site at 17:00 hrs and counted 1250, juveniles and adults. It was a great experience. We also informed that the gray whales are arriving to the Lagoon, we will informe you new things in the future.
ECO-AMIGOS CALAFIA

 51. We went to three different sites looking for Brant. Our first stop was Campk Kirby where we saw three different flocks. The first flock (105 brant) was on the shore and some were in the water, bathing. The second flock (6 brant) flew in and joined the first flock that was bathing. The third flock was in the air and it consisted of about 30 brant. In total, we saw 141 brant at Camp Kirby.

At our second location, which was North Samish, we did not see any brant, but we were lucky enough to see other birds such as ducks, seagulls, grebes and bufflehead ducks. Then we took a short break to eat.

Our third location was Swinomish Slough. Again, we did not see any brant, but we did see more ducks and some great blue herons.

On our way to all these locations, we saw many different birds, such as eagles, red tailed hawks, swans, ruff-legged hawks, a perrigrin falcon, ducks and herons. We are very lucky to have seen these.

In conclusion, we had a very fun and exciting trip. Jen, our "tour guide" was very nice and helpful with all our questions. We hope this information will be helpful to other Branters out there. Good luck!

Signed,
Kelli Geoghegan, Stephanie Messina, Brittney Dewees and Cassey Saunders.

 52. Due to the high tides and winds, we did not see any brant today. However, we did spot a Prairie Falcon (we think it's the only one in Skagit County right now). We also saw at least 5 bald eagles and 1 Peregrine Falcon. The water was occupied by several ducks including pintails and bufflehead ducks. We also saw 3 red tailed hawks. The wate was unbelievably clear at the North end of Samish Island (very unusual). We were not allowed on the trail to the water because of the erosion.

-Barbara Camero, Matt Sadlowsky, Matt Thomas and Annie Walser

 53. We had a large sedimentation event here in Morro Bay last week after heavy rains fell on an already saturated watershed. The eelgrass beds had a thick layer of silt deposited on them, especially near the creek mouth producing the largest flows. Brant seemed to shift their foraging to eelgrass beds farther away from the creek outflows.

 54. 03/12/01 Today in Boundary Bay Delta , B.C. One White Band +K2 was
read and 8 Gray Bellied brant were seen . At one time there were 48
Brant out of the water . This was a low count for this time of year
and the weather conditions present SSE Winds and a good falling tide
So with those low numbers I headed South in search of Brant.
First stop With the kind permission of the Lummi Indian Nation I went out
on to the sea dam dikes near Blaine , Washington State . Across from
Sandy Point where I counted 2344 Brant Off Shore . Further South East of
the Lummi Island Ferry Dock another 844 Brant . And on the way home
stopped at Birch Bay and saw another 28 Brant . These birds were well
out of range to see Juv. birds or Brant .

 55. Hello. Our group traveled to three sites. Upon our travels, we saw 75-125 brant. The wind at the time was gusting tremendously which made it nearly imposible to deal with any equipment. The tide was low throughout the day which made ducks a little less evident. We also believe that the amount of wind and the tide made viewing the brant nearly impossible. The amount of wind also made raptors hard to see. We were fortunate to see 16 bald eagles. We only saw 3 hawks, which is very rare for this area. We also saw 5 Great Blue Herons. This isn't very many! We shared many fun experiences while on our brant trip and felt intertwind with the bird world when a seagul pooped on our car. In conclusion, Barry, Alex, Aubree and Linda had a very sucessful fun day of viewing birds and other stuff...


Lo siento para la cualidad de mi español, pero…

Hola! Viajamos a tres lugaros. Nos encontramos 75-125 brantas. Fue un dia ventoso y los equipos nuestros estaban caídos para mucha del día. La marea fue baja y hubo difícil a ver las brantas, los patos y las aves variadas. Nos encontramos dieciséis aquilas calvas y solo tres halcónes y tambien cinco garzas. Fue una dia de mucho excitación!

-Barry, Alex, Linda y Aubree


 56. The group of 22 Brant is the largest number seen this year in
Gillies Bay located on the west side of Texada Island, British Columbia.
The bay is 75 miles (120 km) north-west of Vancouver, British Columbia.
Smaller groups were seen towards the end of February, but they
seldom remained in the bay for more than one hour. Today the geese
stayed, feeding actively, for more than six hours. The tide was low
enough in the afternoon to expose the young shoots of the eelgrass
which seems to have grown more rapidly than usual, perhaps because
of the mild sunny weather in recent weeks.

John Dove

 57. At 08:48, when I arrived, there were approximately 140 Brant A short time later 60 to 70 more arrived.

Yellow Band; 9E7

White Bands; /VL, N02, 998, Probable Band 23A

This situation was too much to believe!! Two people showed up on the beach, stopped for a while sipping there Latte Grande. They then walked directly toward the geese and flushed them off the beach! Then they stood there on the prime haul out area watching as 150 or so geese wheel around for several minutes waiting for a chance to get back to the beach. Finally, the geese gave up and left. Then the people walked away still sipping their coffee.


 58. Our Bay Birdwatch group walked from Charleston Elementary School to Point Adams, about a mile away. From here, we can look across the water channel to Fossil Point, where our brant friends hang out. We saw about 75 birds at first, but soon the wind picked up and the flock started moving around the corner and out of sight. We also saw buffleheads, scoters, and great blue herons. In class that same day, we had talked about wetlands and how brant use them. In our area, the brant are using the estuary for its eelgrass and sea lettuce. We are discovering that our wetlands are important for the wildlife and plantlife they both produce and support.

 59. Mike Graybill, Manager at South Slough Reserve, reports to Charleston Elementary students that while out paddling on the estuary, he saw 400 brant take off and whirl and turn through the air. What casued such a disturbance? Shortly after seeing them all take off, a bald eagle was spotted in the area. Charleston students will be walking to the observation site tomorrow, so we should have more brant observations soon!

 60. Sra. Rosa Arce E.
Estero El coyote
Realizó un censo de 750 brantas en total, de la cual 70 brantas eran juveniles. Este se realizó en el lugar donde la branta baja a comer. Es la primera experiencia realizada, esperando seguir en el censo de las Brantas.
Ms. Rosa Arce E.
El Coyote Estuary
She counted 750 total Brants, from which 70 where juveniles. The brants were counted where they were feeding. this is my first experience in counting brantas, I hope I will continue doing it in the future.

 61. Andres Garcia A.
Estero La Bocana
Se realizó en el Estero la Bocana, había varias parvadas, se alcanzaron a distinguir 2 parvadas de 80 brantas jovenes y 40 adultas, y otra de 79 brantas adultas y 18 juveniles. Fue mi primera experiencia y lo voy a hacer cada vez que pueda.

This count was in La Bocana Estuary, there were several flocks. It was possible to see 2 flocks of 80 juveniles and 40 adults and another one with 79 adult brantas and 18 juveniles. This was the first time I done it and I will do it every time I can.

 62. GRUPO PAEB
Estero El Coyote
Realizamos un censo de 250 brantas; 200 adultas y 50 juveniles, desde las 12:00 hasta la 1:00p.m., ya que por motivos climatologicos no pudimos trasladarnos en lancha ahsta el lugar donde se alimentan las brantas.

We did a count of 250 brants; 200 adults and 50 juveniles, since 12:00 until 1:00 p.m., because of weather conditions we could not move by boat to the place where the brants feed.

 63. SR. RAMON CESEÑA
ESTERO EL COYOTE
Realizó un censo de una parvada de 1000 brantas aproximadamente, que se traslado desde la casa del ostion hastaa la isla del pariente, donde se alimentan durante la marea baja.
MR. RAMON CESEÑA
El Coyote Estuary
He counted a flock of aproximately 1000 brants, that move between the house of the oyster to the island of "el pariente", they were feeding during low tide.

 64. Today we went on a branting trip. On our branting trip we also saw 1 Belted Kingfisher, 4 Bald Eagles, Blue Herons, 6 domestic peacocks, 2 hawks, lots of Buffleheads, and 3 Trumpeter swans. It was very exciting, we learned about brant and traveled to three places which included Camp Kirby, North Samish and Swinomish Channel. It was high tide at all three places. We spent approximately four hours searching for brant and we saw a total of 141 brant. We could tell that one of them was a juvenile, but the others were too far away to tell. We didn't see any brant at North Samish and Swinomish Channel. The weather was sunny, but a little windy. This is our last time on the brant trip and we got to go with a new instructor named Jen. We all have learned a lot about brant.

-Mike Connolly, Andrew, Danielle Burt and Amelia Brooks


Hoy fuemos a una día en el campo ver las brantas. Vemos un Belted Kingfisher, quatro áquilas calvas, una garza, seis pavos, dos halcónes, muchos patos y tres cisnes. Fue una dia apasionante y aprendemos a brantas y viajamos a tres lugaros incluso el Campo del Kirby, La Isla del Samish y El Canal del Swinomish. Fue una marea baja a todos lugaros. Vemos 141 brantas. Fue una dia del sol, pero una dia poca ventosa.

-Mike Connolly, Andrew, Danielle Burt y Amelia Brooks

 65. Brant numbers on Morro Bay have dropped by one third in the last couple of weeks.

 66. Our population in Morro Bay is rapidly decreasing. It's gone from 3,700 on 3/11 to 2,500 on 3/23 and now to 1,400 on 3/31. According to Richard Rowlett, an observer who counts gray whale cow/calf pairs migrating north past our area as well as loons, scoters, and brant, large numbers of brant coming up from Mexico have not been observed yet. Last year most of his big migration days for brant (5,000 or more in one day) fell in mid-April. In past years while these large numbers are moving past Morro Bay, our numbers here continue to drop and these migrants don't stop on our bay.

 67. Richard Rowlett, a biological observer at the Piedras Blancas lighthouse in central California, reported 'several thousand' brant moving north past his location during the past week. This was up from relatively few the week before. He noted that the strong winds that blew from the north most of the week slowed down the migration of many species, but "if anything enjoyed the northerly headwinds, it was the brant."

 68. Today, while out on our brant trip we saw about 3,500 brant! This means that they are now migrating from Mexico to northern Alaska. We traveled to Camp kirby, North Samish Island, and Swinomish Channel. Some of the birds of prey we saw were the Peregrine Falcon, Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier and Red Tailed Hawk. Some of the water birds we saw were the Grebe, Scoter, Widgeon, Bufflehead and Goldeneye. We also saw many Great Blue Herrons. the tide was high the whole time we were out and the weather was perfect. There was not any wind, so the water was calm and the birds really liked it.

-Josh S., Scott T., Tabitha W. and Kendra H.


Hoy, fuemos a una día en el campo ver las Brantas. ¡Vemos 3,500 Brantas! Viajemos a el campo de Kirby, la isla de Samish y canal de Swinomish. Las Brantas emigras de Mexico a Alaska del norte. Tambien vemos un Halcón de Peregrine, una Águila Calva, un Halcón Cola Rojo y muchas aves acuática. Vemos muchas Garzas, tambien. Fue marea alta y fue una dia del sol. Fue no ventoso. Fue una bahía tranquilo y los aves fueron feliz.

-Josh, Scott, Tabitha y Kendra

 69. I'm Ron Whited from CE2 high school in Coos Bay. I will be helping Charleston Elementary School and South Slough Reserve.
Today was my first day out observing the brant. I'll be going out about
once a week or more. We could see that some of the brant had tags but
could not see the codes because it was raining.

 70. I could not see the tags on the brant because they were too far away. When I got closer to them they just flew over to the other side of the bay. All the tags were either yellow or white. I observed them at the beginning of low tide in Charleston, Oregon. This is another observation by Ron Whited of CE2 High School.

 71. The brant are almost gone from Morro Bay. The few remaining brant are mostly juveniles (32 out of 34 at the primary gritting site this morning). Numbers are low on the bay, however, large numbers are still moving by just offshore. Richard Rowlett, an observer at the Piedras Blancas lighthouse north of Morro Bay in central California, reported ~10,000 brant passing by from 4/1 through 4/7 and another ~10,000 passing by from 4/8 through 4/14.

 72. The following report was posted by Richard Rowlett, a gray whale and bird migration (brant, loons, scoters) observer stationed at the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse north of Morro Bay in central California. He's been doing spring observations from this location for about 8 years and this may be his best brant day ever. - from John Roser, Morro Bay.

"The first two hours (0630-0830) were totally dead with nearly everything
pouring through especially from 0830-1130hrs and slowing somewhat thereafter. Many huge Brant flocks, some quite spectacular numbering over 1,000 with flocks of 250-750 were fairly routine. This was one of the best Brant days seen around here. There were at least 68 flocks totaling 13,090 individuals and there were likely a few more missed out there in the haze."




 73. The Morro Bay population has dwindled to next to nothing despite the large numbers migrating by just offshore that are coming up from Mexico.

 74. As our adventure comes to a close for today, we look back at the wonderful memories and times that we have spent here with Jen trying to spot the beautiful Black Brant. Our journey has taken us to many wonderful places such as, Camp Kirby, where we saw nearly 4,000 brant in their natural habitat. They were mostly in large groups. On our next two stops, we did not see any Brant, unfortunately. We have had a wonderful experience and all of us will truly miss the times that we have spent together tracking these wonderful creatures.

Kyle Thomas, Brendon Wedner, Kellye LaMonte and Amanda Jamison

 75. Richard Rowlett, an observer at the Piedras Blancas Research Station in central Califoria north of Morro Bay, posted this report for last week's sightings of brant migrating northward past his position - John Roser

'Strong brant flights were observed Su-Mo (4/22-23 = ~26,000) with a midweek lull then another modest push Th-Sa4/26-28 (15-20,000). Estimated total for the week was around 45-50,000.'

 76. May1,2001 Brant are finally using the small man made lagoon at in good
numbers 95 were Obs for Bands today Blue Band TTK , Aqua band V1G
White Bands ; 99N , 9VG , >20 . One Black or Blue Band ; LRK

Also seen 1 A/B 2 B/W and 1 Y/B .

A total of 738 Brant were seen between the
Westshore / Robert's Bank Shipping Terminal Causeway and the Ferry
Terminal at Tsawwassen Delta ,B.C. Canada Thousands of Western Sandpipers
and even a few SemiPalmated Plover were moving through are area .
The brant are now looking very shabby with faded ,worn
feathers .
Thanks Richard Swanston Delta , B.C.


 77. Today, Justin, Ryan Kelli and Cassey went to three different locations determined to find brant.

The first location wa Camp Kirby. We saw many Brant there. They were very difficult to count, but after some minor disagreement, we came to the conclusion that there were about 4,500 brant. Not only did we see brant at Camp Kirby, but we also saw scoters, loons, seagulls, crows and ducks. All the birds were far away and we had to use our spotting scopes to see them. The tide was very high.

The next stop was North Samish Island. We did not expect to see brant here, but we were lucky and saw about 150 of them. We also saw loons and a seal, which was very interesting.

The last stop wat the Swinomish Channel. Unfortunately, we did not see any brant here, but we did see seagulls, loons and herons. The tide was still high here.

While driving to all of these places, we saw many different birds such as, red tail hawks, seagulls and herons.

In conclusion, we all had a very fun day and would love to get more involved with brant. We would like to thank Jen very much for letting us have this experience. We had a great time. Good luck to all the other Branters out there and we hope you have just as good of an experience as we did.

Cassey-Lynn Saunders
Kelli Geoghegan
Ryan LaLonde
Justin Anderson
__________________________________________________________________________

Hoy, 3 Mayo 2001, Justin, Ryan, Kelli y Cassey fuemos a tres lugares mirar las brantas.

El primero lugar fue El Campo de Kirby. Miramos muchos brantas aquí. Fue mas deficil convenir en el cuenta de las brantas. Pero, acordamos fue aproximadamente 4,500 brantas. También miramos somorgujos, gaviotas, cuervos y muchos patos.

El lugar segundo fue La Isla Samish. No suponemos mirar las brantas a este lugar, per miramos aproximadamente 150 brantas. Miramos una foca y muchos somorgujos a este lugar.

El lugar ultimo fue El Canal de Swinomish. No había algunas brantas en El Canal de Swinomish. Pero, miramos gaviotas, somorgujos y muchas garzas aqui.

Temenos una dia apasionante y queremos mas sobre las brantas. Gracis a Jen pro la día en el campo. Es una gran experiencia. ¡Buena suerte a todos los observadores de las brantas! Esperamos que todos ustedes tienen un tiempo muy bueno.

 78. Today, Justin, Ryan Kelli and Cassey went to three different locations determined to find brant.

The first location wa Camp Kirby. We saw many Brant there. They were very difficult to count, but after some minor disagreement, we came to the conclusion that there were about 4,500 brant. Not only did we see brant at Camp Kirby, but we also saw scoters, loons, seagulls, crows and ducks. All the birds were far away and we had to use our spotting scopes to see them. The tide was very high.

The next stop was North Samish Island. We did not expect to see brant here, but we were lucky and saw about 150 of them. We also saw loons and a seal, which was very interesting.

The last stop wat the Swinomish Channel. Unfortunately, we did not see any brant here, but we did see seagulls, loons and herons. The tide was still high here.

While driving to all of these places, we saw many different birds such as, red tail hawks, seagulls and herons.

In conclusion, we all had a very fun day and would love to get more involved with brant. We would like to thank Jen very much for letting us have this experience. We had a great time. Good luck to all the other Branters out there and we hope you have just as good of an experience as we did.

Cassey-Lynn Saunders
Kelli Geoghegan
Ryan LaLonde
Justin Anderson
__________________________________________________________________________

Hoy, 3 Mayo 2001, Justin, Ryan, Kelli y Cassey fuemos a tres lugares mirar las brantas.

El primero lugar fue El Campo de Kirby. Miramos muchos brantas aquí. Fue mas deficil convenir en el cuenta de las brantas. Pero, acordamos fue aproximadamente 4,500 brantas. También miramos somorgujos, gaviotas, cuervos y muchos patos.

El lugar segundo fue La Isla Samish. No suponemos mirar las brantas a este lugar, per miramos aproximadamente 150 brantas. Miramos una foca y muchos somorgujos a este lugar.

El lugar ultimo fue El Canal de Swinomish. No había algunas brantas en El Canal de Swinomish. Pero, miramos gaviotas, somorgujos y muchas garzas aqui.

Temenos una dia apasionante y queremos mas sobre las brantas. Gracis a Jen pro la día en el campo. Es una gran experiencia. ¡Buena suerte a todos los observadores de las brantas! Esperamos que todos ustedes tienen un tiempo muy bueno.

Cassey-Lynn Saunders
Kelli Geoghegan
Ryan LaLonde
Justin Anderson

 79. Hi 92 Brant were in the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal Habitat Compensation
Lagoon Most of these were Observed for bands . It was raining and the wind
was from the SSE at 15 to 22 Knots . There were 958 Brant in the area .

Blue Bands ; 2HeartshapeZ , 1HeartshapeE , TTK .

Aqua Band ; T6T

White Bands ; L1V

Yellow Bands ; S12

A Red band and a Blackened Band was also seen . Western, Least sandpipers
, 1 Black Turnstone and 2 Oystercatchers were seen .
Yours Richard Delta , B.C. Canada .

 80.
On our brant trip, we visited three sites: Camp Kirby, North Samish Island and Swinomish Slough. At our first sight, we saw approximately 2,300 brant, as well as many seagulls. Our second site, North Samish Island was not quite as successful, but we still managed to see around 410 brant. Our last stop, Swinomish Slough provided us with no brant viewing. However, we did see several mature Bald Eagles.

In conclusion, our brant trip on May 8, 2001 was interesting and educational, as well as surprisingly fun. (Thanks Jen!)

- Colin Howard, Keillan Mennella and Matt D. Thomas


Nosotros visitamos a tres lagares: Campo de Kirby, La Isla Samish del Norte y El Canal de Swinomish. En el lugar primero, miramos aproximadamente 2,300 brantas. Miramos tambien muchas gaviotas. El lugar segundo fue no como de éxito. Pero, miramos 410 brantas. En el lugar ultimo, no miramos algunas brantas. Miramos varias águilas calvas.

En conclusión, nuestros viaje brantas, en 8 de Mayo, fue interesante y educativo así como alegría de modo soprendente. (¡Gracias a Jen!)

- Colin Howard, Keillan Mennella y Mateo D. Tomás


 81.
We spent the day with our eyes glued to binoculars. We had a lot of fun and saw 2,200 brant at Camp Kirby. We did not see any brant at the other two sites that we went to. We saw lots of seagulls at all three sites. We also saw a Harbor Seal, Red Tailed Hawks, Bald Eagles and lots of Great Blue Herons. All of the birds that we saw were either looking for food or just enjoying being in the water. We all had a lot of fun counting brant.

- Justin, Aubree, Brenden & Stephanie


Pasamos la día con los ojos pegamos a los prismáticos. Tuvemos muchas alegrías y miramos 2,200 brantas a El Campo de Kirby. No miramos algunas brantas a os otros lugares. Miramos muchas gaviotas a todos lugares. Tambien miramos una foca, halcónes de dolas rojas, águilas calvas y muchas garzas. Todos aves buscaban a alimento o disfutaban la agua. Tenemos un tiempo apasionante cuenta las brantas.

- Justin, Aubree, Brenden y Stephanie



 82. Today Between the Ferry Dock at Tsawwassen Delta, B.C. Canada and the
Westshore Container Terminal there were 30 Brant well out in the middle .
With 43 being seen May 20,01 in the same area .
Have a Great Summer Every One Richard

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