International Brant Monitoring Project
Observation Log

1999/2000 Observations

Date	Location	Observers	Count	Percent Juveniles	Notes
Aug 27	Izembek Lagoon, AK	Izembek National Wildlife Refuge	7000	N/A	1
Sep 13	Izembek Lagoon, AK	Izembek National Wildlife Refuge	75000	N/A	2
Sep 27	Izembek Lagoon, AK	Izembek National Wildlife Refuge	130,000	N/A	3
Oct. 29	Morro Bay, CA	John Roser	300	38%	4
Nov. 5	Morro Bay, CA	John Roser	750	N/A	5
Nov. 6	Morro Bay, CA	John Roser	900	26	6
Nov. 7,99.	Delta, B.C.	Richard Swanston	105	20.9%	7
Nov 11 1999	OTHER	OTHER	12	unknown	8
Nov 12 1999	OTHER	OTHER	24	unknown	9
Nov. 11	Morro Bay, CA	John Roser	1,400	25%	10
Nov. 18	Morro Bay, CA	John Roser	2,000	23%	11
Nov.27,99.	Delta, B.C.	Richard Swanston	109	20	12
Nov. 26	OTHER	OTHER	81	n/a	13
Nov 28 - 30	OTHER	OTHER	141	n/a	14
11/30/99	Padilla Bay, WA	Bay View School	45	N/A	15
Nov. 27	Morro Bay, CA	John Roser	2,500	25%	16
Nov 30 - Dec 1	OTHER	OTHER	80 - 143	n/a	17
Dec 1 to Dec 5	OTHER	OTHER	up to 189	N/A	18
12/7/99	Padilla Bay, WA	Bay View School	420	N/A	19
12/14/99	Padilla Bay, WA	Bay View School	1008	N/A	20
Dec.12,1999.	Delta, B.C.	Richard Swanston	818	N/A	21
Jan. 8	Morro Bay, CA	John Roser	3047	21.2%	22
1/11/00	Padilla Bay, WA	Bay View School	70	7%	23
Jan. 13	Morro Bay, CA	John Roser	3,400	n/a	24
1/18/00	Padilla Bay, WA	Bay View School	160	N/A	25
1/25/00	Padilla Bay, WA	Bay View School	100	N/A	26
Nov. 20	Estero la Bocana, Baja Cal.	Branta SudCalifornia P.A.E.B.	1530	N/A	27
Nov. 27	Estero la Bocana, Baja Cal.	Branta SudCalifornia P.A.E.B.	3930	450	28
JAN. 28 ,00	Delta, B.C.	Richard Swanston	192	15.1	29
2/1/00	Padilla Bay, WA	Bay View School	0	0	30
Feb. 7	Morro Bay, CA	John Roser	3,800	N/A	31
2/15/00	Padilla Bay, WA	Bay View School	344	N/A	32
Jan. 22, 2000	Estero la Bocana, Baja Cal.	Branta SudCalifornia P.A.E.B.	4830	N/A	33
2/25/00	Padilla Bay, WA	Bay View School	225	N/A	34
02/28/00	Delta, B.C.	Richard Swanston	172	N/A	35
Feb 29	Padilla Bay, WA	Bay View School	200	N/A	36
Feb. 22	Coos Bay, OR	Charleston Elementary School	16	N/A	37
Mar. 02	OTHER	OTHER	60	N/A	38
Mar. 05	OTHER	OTHER	300	N/A	39
Mar 7	Padilla Bay, WA	Bay View School	310	N/A	40
Mar.9,00	Delta, B.C.	Richard Swanston	56	21.4	41
mar.15/00	Delta, B.C.	Richard Swanston	98	17.3	42
Mar. 9	Coos Bay, OR	Charleston Elementary School	31	N/A	43
Mar. 15	Coos Bay, OR	Charleston Elementary School	250	N/A	44
Mar 11	Morro Bay, CA	John Roser	2,700	N/A	45
Mar. 16	Coos Bay, OR	Charleston Elementary School	200+	N/A	46
Mar. 17	Coos Bay, OR	Charleston Elementary School	348	N/A	47
Mar. 23	Morro Bay, CA	John Roser	1600	N/A	48
3/20/00	Padilla Bay, WA	Bay View School	approx. 816	N/A	49
Mar. 29	Coos Bay, OR	Charleston Elementary School	200-300	N/A	50
Mar. 30	Coos Bay, OR	Charleston Elementary School	~250	N/A	51
3/31	Padilla Bay, WA	Bay View School	370	NA	52
Apr. 7	Morro Bay, CA	John Roser	700	N/A	53
Apr. 11	Padilla Bay, WA	Bay View School	302	N/A	54
Apr. 12	Morro Bay, CA	John Roser	167	N/A	55
Apr. 11	Coos Bay, OR	Charleston Elementary School	125	N/A	56
Apr. 13	Padilla Bay, WA	Bay View School	~307	N/A	57
Apr.	Padilla Bay, WA	Bay View School	~50	N/A	58
Apr. 25	Padilla Bay, WA	Bay View School	28	N/A	59
Apr. 24	Morro Bay, CA	John Roser	29	N/A	60
May 4	Padilla Bay, WA	Bay View School	approx. 1000	n/a	61
5/4/2000	OTHER	OTHER	test	test	62
May 04,2000	Delta, B.C.	Richard Swanston	252	N/A	63
May 16	Padilla Bay, WA	Bay View School	600	N/A	64
May 31 00.	Delta, B.C.	Richard Swanston	14	N/A	65
May 11	Padilla Bay, WA	Bay View School	79-100	NA	66
May 18	Padilla Bay, WA	Bay View School	500	NA	67

Notes:

1. Our brant arrived a bit late this fall, after a late spring and
nesting season. Our August 27 aerial survey found less than 7,000
brant on Izembek Lagoon. By September 13, we estimated 75,000 brant on
Lagoon. By last Monday (September 27), we had 130,000 brant on the
Lagoon. We'll be flying 4 or 5 more surveys over the next couple of
weeks, as the fall staging population peaks, to better estimate peak
populations.

2. Our brant arrived a bit late this fall, after a late spring and
nesting season. Our August 27 aerial survey found less than 7,000
brant on Izembek Lagoon. By September 13, we estimated 75,000 brant on
Lagoon. By last Monday (September 27), we had 130,000 brant on the
Lagoon. We'll be flying 4 or 5 more surveys over the next couple of
weeks, as the fall staging population peaks, to better estimate peak
populations.

3. Our brant arrived a bit late this fall, after a late spring and
nesting season. Our August 27 aerial survey found less than 7,000
brant on Izembek Lagoon. By September 13, we estimated 75,000 brant on
Lagoon. By last Monday (September 27), we had 130,000 brant on the
Lagoon. We'll be flying 4 or 5 more surveys over the next couple of
weeks, as the fall staging population peaks, to better estimate peak
populations.

4. A call from John Roser indicates that the first of the black brant arrived at Morro Bay estuary on October 28. By Monday, November 1, there were 300 brant on the estuary. John already had some bands read and is also using telemetry tracking device since 48 birds from Izembek are with radio transmitters. These early arrivals have many family groups and the population is currently 38% juvenile. This pattern of a high percentage juvenile in the population during early November is consistent with the last two years of observation.

Brant have been trickling south for over a week now, with reports of small numbers of birds arriving in British Columbia, Morro Bay, and even Mexico. It now appears that the main departure from Izembek Refuge on the Alaska Peninsula may be underway. Forty-two brant that summered on the YK delta were equipped with radios, during an aerial survey of Izembek Lagoon. On November 1 we found 27 radioed birds still on Izembek lagoon, but flocks of 1,000 or more birds were seen above Cold Bay heading south. This morning we could find only 17 remaining radios. It appears that 10 radioed birds -- nearly 25% of the radioed population -- departed last night, amd will soon appear at an estuary near you. Mike Roy Izembek National Wildlife Refuge

5. On Nov. 3rd 300 brant were on the bay, but by Nov. 4th about 50 had left. In the last 24 hours 500 arrived.

6. None

7. Today was a great day to obs. Brant In Boundary Bay with light winds from the SSE and a
falling tide with only a few rain showers and the temp. at 8c. At one time there was
71 Birds out of the water well within band reading range. And as the weather looked worse
then it was the foot traffic was minimal. With no dogs on the beach !!
8 Aqua bands were read with 2 White bands one with a new symbol for
me it was /VL One Green and a Blue band was seen but not positively read .
Waterfowl numbers are extremely High with Thousands of Pintail , Wigeon and Mallard
this at time makes counting and band reading a challenge with no space on the beach
at the high water mark for the Brant. All the Brant to date have been Black Bellies
No Gray Bellies have been seen to date . A further 70 birds were seen from the Tsawwassen Ferry Causeway . With 7 birds close enough in to see two Juv.
Thanks Richard Swanston rickswan@netcom.ca Delta , B.C. Canada

8. 12 birds arrived at the San Diego river estuary today at about 1800 hrs
Low tide is at 1705 hrs

9.

g24 Brant seen at the San Diego River estuary at 0730 on Nov 12 1999. There was lot of honking and
and many were posturing with stretched out necks and heads held close to the water
Tide was coming in.High tide at 1030 hrs.This observers location is at
32 deg 45.6 min north and 117 deg 14.4 min west.

10. None

11. None

12. Good Day, Brant lovers on Nov. 27,99. At Boundary Bay Delta , B.C. It was
Ocast and windy with winds from the ENE at 14 to 15 Knots. Perfect brant
weather 109 birds were present with over 76 observed for bands .
7 to 8 brant were of the hrota race with the others being nigricans race
This is the first appearance to my knowledge of the grey bellies this
Winter in Boundary Bay . Three Blue bands were seen one GLZ and
an Aqua Y83 also White 3AG One of the Blue banded birds was an Adult
with 2 Yellow banded Juveniles following it around none of them cleared
out of the water sorry missed the codes .
Good Luck Richard Delta , B.C.

13. Total of 81 birds on the San Diego river estuary today at Nov 26 pm
.They stayed overnight and left after 0730 hrs on Nov 27.
Robin Kedward

14. Brant sightings at the San Diego River estuary

On Nov 28 at 1730 hrs there were 62 and at 1810 hrs there were 0
On Nov 29 at 0811 hrs there were 25.
On Nov 30 at 0720 hrs there were 141 and 3 more flew in at 0815.

There was a low tide at 2017 hrs on Nov 28.
There was a low tide at 0843 hrs and at 2124 hrs on Nov 29.
There was a low tide at 1020 hrs on Nov 30

Robin Kedward.

15. Hello, this is Tyler Satterlund, Tristan Powell, Anna Fox, and Laura Murdock. We are eighth graders at Bay View school in Bay View, WA. We went branting today for the first time this season. The weather was cold and rainy, and a little bit foggy. We visited Camp Kirby at 11:30 AM and identified 25 brant. We were unable to identify any juveniles. The brant were flying north from Camp Kirby. The tide was at its highest at 9.40 feet. There were no brant at Notrth Samish, our second site. We saw 20 more brant at Swinomish Slough. They were in the air flying in circles and then heading south. The tide was approximately 8 feet high.

16. The past two years in Morro Bay, California we recorded an abrupt rise in our population in late November along with a significant decrease in the percentage of juveniles. This year we have not observed this pattern.

17. On Nov 30 at 1700 hrs there were many (Perhaps 80 but too dark for an
accurate count )
On Dec 1 there were 87 at 0730 hrs
On Dec 1 there were 143 at 1600 hrs
Brant sightings at the San Diego river estuary

Almost all of them were feeding along the eelgrass beds at the north
side of the estuary.

18. This has been the best week so far this season.Here is alist of the past few days
observations. These are sightings at the San Diego river estuary.

Date Time No of birds.

DEC 1 0730 87
DEC 1 1600 143
DEC 2 0920 65
DEC 2 1130 A group of 41 passed by offshore and were observed about 4 miles south of Point Loma.
DEC 2 1655 96 These were joined by a group of 12 who flew in when it was almost dark Total 108
DEC 3 0915 12 the same 12 that arrived late on DEC 2.
DEC 3 1605 180
DEC 4 0800 2
DEC 4 1015 66
DEC 4 1630 181
DEC 5 0730 2
DEC 5 1640 189

It is just about impossible to see any bands as there is only one place where they can walk on the mud and that is only possible at low water. They spend their time paddling around eating the eelgrass and honking at each other.Interestingly enough although there is plenty of eelgrass available on the up stream side of the bridge I have not yet seen any birds going there to feed.
Robin M. Kedward
kedward@earthlink.net

19. Hello, we are Katie, Mike, Alyssa, and Kenny from Bay View school in Washington. We observed 420 brant, but they were really far away so we couldn't make out if they were juveniles or adults, grey bellies or black bellies. The tide was about 6.44 feet. The weather was beautiful! All the brant we saw were swimming in the water.

20. Hello this is Justin, Kelli, Sean, an Michelle. We are 8th graders at Bay View Elementary. Today we went out to Camp Kirby where the weather was windy, cold, and rainy. We saw 8 brant. They were flying close to the spit. No juveniles were among this group, but we were able to distinguish grey bellies from black bellies. Three of the brant were black bellies and the rest were grey. We did not see any brant at North samish, but we saw a lot of other cool birds, including a marbled murrelet. At Swinomish slough we saw about 1,000 brant way out on the water. They were nestled in behind the spit. We could not identify any juveniles. The tide was high at around 8 feet and was on it's way out.

21. 12/17/99. Today in Boundary Bay , Delta B.C. Canada .
There was a brisk weather front moving through are area .
With strong winds and VERY low clouds heavy rain showers winds from
the ESE. at 25 to 30 Knots . PERFECT brant weather for are area 400+
birds were off Boundary Bay Regional when I first arrived . With birds
coming in steadily I counted the birds in the N.W. Bay and came up
with a Winter high of 818 birds . While the birds were standing in the
water few could be observed for bands. Yellow Bands 8H1 and -AA . One White
and Two other Yellows were seen but not read . 12 Gray Bellied brant
hauled out enough to be identified.
8H1 Is a bird that I believe was fitted with a Radio this Year. On
Dec. 12,99. White Band Z6K was seen between the Roberts Bank Coal Port
Causeway and B.C. Ferry Causeway. In Delta , B.C. . This I'm told is
another Radio equiped bird. It would be nice to read some information
on other birds fitted with Radio's and some Info on what was discovered
this Year from the use of this new technology.
Richard Swanston Delta , B.C. Canada

22. None

23. We are Andrea, Moeko, Kellen, and Shaun from Bay View Elementary school in Washington. Today was a cold, windy Tuesday. We set out in the "Brant Mobile" to go look for brant. As we arrived at Camp Kirby, our first destination site, we noticed black birds bobbing up and down in the water. When we looked through our scopes, we saw 70 brant geese. We positivel identified three as grey bellies. The rest were in the water and therefore were not distinguishable. We also counted 10 juveniles. The tide was about 7 feet and was still on its way out. We first observed the brant floating in the water, eating eelgrass. After a while, the brant moved onto shore to access the gravel. But before we could separate the grey from the black, a flock of black turnstones flew in and scared the brant away. The brant circled around the spit for a while and then landed in the water. It was really neat to observe all of these different behaviors. We did not see any more brant at the other sites. We did, however, see many other water fowl and raptors. A great day to be on the bay!

24. It seems like the northward migration is on for many birds. Our population was fairly stable from late Nov. through late Dec., but now significant increases are occurring. Morro Bay numbers have been as follows: 1/3 - 2,800; 1/8 - 3,000; 1/13 - 3,400.

25. Hello, we are Eleanore, Matt, Griffin, and Hilary from Bay View school in Washington. The weather was great today as we headed out for our brant field trip, sunny and very clear. We saw around 140 brant at our first stop, Camp Kirby. The tide was about 8 feet and the brant were far out in deeper water so we could not determine any juveniles or grey bellies. They were paddling into the north wind. At North Samish, our second site, we did not see any brant. We did however see goldeneye, bufflehead, and grebes. At our last site, Swinomish channel, we counted 20 brant far off on the end of a spit. We could not tell any juveniles or grey bellies. We did observe three bald eagles swoop in to prey on the birds. A huge flock of brant and ducks stirred up off the spit as the eagles charged. It was really neet to watch. There was a lot of human activity near Swinomish channel; hunters on a boat in the water, a plane flying low overhead, and trains going by. It was a lot of fun branting today!

26. Hello, we are Doug, Alfredo, Chelsie, and Paige from Bay View School in Washington. Today we stopped at three locations to observe brant. The first stop was Camp Kirby and Kirby wasn't home. We arrived at 11:20 am and the tide was 7 feet and going out. We only saw 6 brant flying South off the spit, far off over the water. They were too far to tell any juveniles or grey bellies. The weather was a little cold and drizzly, but the water was very calm. We saw four otters right near the shore! Our next stop was North Samish. We arrived here at about 11:44. The weather was still drizzly. We saw 35 brant, but again we could not distinguish adults from juveniles because they were too far out. These brant were in the water, most likely eating eelgrass. We saw a seal here too. We made it to our last stop, Swinomish Channel, at 1:00 pm. We saw 59 brant way out on the opposite side of the spit. We guessed that there were probably more, but they were mixed in with thousands of other ducks. Again, they were too far away to tell juveniles from adults. The brant were sitting on the water grooming and eating. The tide was still around 7 feet.

27. Hola colegas observadores de Brantas:
El s�bado 20 de Noviembre de 1999 a las 11:10 a.m., un grupo de 10 alumnos del tercer grado junto con nuestro asesor el Profe. Javier Patr�n, nos dispon�amos a ir al estero del Coyote en el cami�n chico de la instituci�n; hicimos 35 minutos de trayecto y por fin llegamos al estero donde lo primero que hicimos fue tomar fotos y comer.
Despu�s de aproximadamente 1:30 mints. estuvimos esperando a que el Sr. que nos iba a llevar en la panga a los sitios de observaci�n de la Branta Negra llegara, cuando por fin llego todos los alumnos que fuimos, nos subimos a la panga junto con el Profe. y as� tardamos aprox.15 min. en llegar al primer sitio de observaci�n y cuando llegamos tuvimos que bajarnos de la panga a una gran distancia de las brantas, porque son muy sensibles y con cualquier ruido fuerte se ahuyentan, pero supimos que hacer y antes de dirigirnos a hacer el conteo de las brantas, el Profre. Javier nos dio algunas indicaciones como por ejemplo:
contarlas, lo cual consiste en contar la primera Branta que vi�ramos hasta el extremo opuesto y si est�bamos contando y nos distra�amos, ten�amos que volver a empezar. Entre otras, estaba el de no hacer ruidos fuertes y agacharnos o arrastrarnos para acercarnos mas, cuando recibimos las indicaciones, nos dispusimos a acercarnos lo mas que pudimos a las brantas y todos nos arrastramos e �bamos gateando y nos acercamos hasta tener una distancia aprox. a los 20 m. lo cual fue un gran logro y as� iniciamos el conteo con los binoculares y contamos 280, ya que hicimos esto nos paramos y todas las brantas volaron lo cual fue un gran espect�culo para nosotros ver volar por primera vez tantas brantas, as� regresamos a la panga para dirigirnos a otro sitio de observaci�n, al cual hicimos 6 min. y en el cual no nos bajamos pero si vimos brantas al igual que otro tipo de aves como gaviotas, garzas, sarapicos, patos buzos, entre otros de all� nos fuimos a otro sitio de observaci�n, al cual tardamos 15 minutos en llegar y tambi�n vimos brantas, pero antes de llegar vimos aprox. 10 aves blancas llamados Pel�canos blancos las cuales estaban muy bonitas y en este tercer sitio estuvimos muy poco tiempo, aproximadamente 10 minutos y en los anteriores una hora en el primero y media hora en el segundo, despu�s de hacer estos tres recorridos regresamos. En el recorrido de regreso le pegaron un susto a Lidia; una de nuestras compa�eras, por que a una de ellas le toco una mano, se fueron juntos con nosotros y les tomaron fotos; tardamos 15 minutos en el recorrido de regreso y as� concluyo nuestra visita a los sitios de observaci�n de las brantas con aprox. un conteo de 1250, al llegar al lugar de donde hab�amos salido para hacer el recorrido, estuvimos no mas de 20 min. y nos regresamos a Punta Abreojos llegando a las 4:30 p.m.
Las personas que asistimos a esta observaci�n fuimos: Claudia M. Miranda S., Julio C. Cota Ibarra, Anais Murillo Aguilar, Jes�s U. Murillo A., Alejandro Saito A., Josu� Arce Villavicencio, Juan D. Lucero J., Lidia G. M�ndez A., Erika L. Jim�nez P., Jeovane Romero Arce, y Profesor Javier Patr�n Cese�a.

MUCHOS SALUDOS!!! ...

BRANT OBSERVATION, NOVEMBER 20, 1999.
ESTERO DEL COYOTE, PUNTA ABREOJOS, B.C.S.
BRANT P.A.E..B. GROUP

Hello colleagues’ brants observers:
This Saturday, November 20, 1999 at 11:10 in the morning; one group of ten students at third grade with our professor Javier Patron, we will begin our field observations in the Estero del Coyote, we went over there by school bus, this is small, we take 35 minutes for transportation, when we arrive we take pictures and take a lunch.
We stay one hour and a half, because the person to pick up us at the rowboat, he was late. We go with the professor Javier and we can take 15 minutes to arrive to the first site to observations we arrive to the rowboat for the long distance to the brants, because the brants are very sensitive, any kind of noise they go away; but we now about all of we can do, the professor Javier Patron tell us every thing to do, for example: count the first brant can we saw and then all the birds if we are not sure, we will be to recount one more time. We need to stay quiet, any noise and bowing or dragging to stay close to the brants, when we receive all of the information, we tray to go nearby to the brants approximately 20 m. that is a grate success for us and then we started the counted with ours binoculars, 280 brants and then we stand up and the brant fly away, and we are lucky to see that, is a great experience for us because is the first time to observe. We go back to the rowboat, and we are going to other site, in 6 minutes we stay in the rowboat and we look the brants and other types of birds like gulls, herons, mallards, sandpipers; then in 15 minutes we are going to other site and we see over there more brants, after we arrived in this site, we counted approximately 10 white birds called white pelican very beautiful and y this site we stay only 10 minutes; in the other sites we stay in the first one hour and in the second site half hour more less, later we back, in the path Lidia, one colleague have a surprise, because the brant touch her hand and then brants come with us for the road and we take pictures; we take 15 minutes to the path and finish the observation brants with approximately 1250 brants. When we arrive at the place when we started the path, we stay over there 20 minutes more less, and then we come back to Punta Abreojos and arrive at 4:30 hrs. This is the persons to attend the brant observation: Claudia M. Miranda S., Julio C. Cota Ibarra, Anaid Murillo Aguilar, Jesus U. Murillo A., Alejandro Salto A., Josue Arce Villacio, Juan D. Lucero J., Lidia G. Mendez A., Erika L. Jimenez P., Jeovane Romero Arce., and Profesor Javier Patron Cesena.
Regards!!

28. OBSERVACIONES DEL DIA 27 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 1999
GRUPO P.A.E.B.
PUNTA ABREOJOS, B.C.S., MEXICO

Hola Queridos colegas observadores de brantas:

El d�a 27 de Noviembre el grupo participante del proyecto Branta nos dispusimos a ir primeramente al “Estero La Bocana”, en el cami�n de la instituci�n. La hora de salida fue a las 7:30 a.m. y la hora de llegada al estero fue a las 7:50 a.m., empezamos nuestro conteo y la mayor�a de las brantas eran juveniles, las cuales fueron 450.
La salida del primer sitio de observaci�n se realiz� a las 9:07 a.m. Llegamos al “Estero del Coyote” a las 9:30 a.m., el cual fue el segundo sitio de observaci�n visitado, donde nos acompa�� el Delegado de la comunidad de Punta Abreojos, el Se�or Placido Arce, quien nos hizo el favor de tomar video de las actividades realizadas en este sitio.
Al llegar, primeramente comimos y despu�s de un rato de espera a las 10:30 a.m., subimos un primer grupo de estudiantes a la panga y nos llevaron a una isla. En el trayecto vimos dos delfines acerc�ndose a nosotros. Al llegar a la isla, el grupo de alumnos quedamos solos con el prop�sito de llegar al otro lado de la isla para contar las brantas y as� lo hicimos, aunque terminamos todos raspados y adoloridos de los pies, llegamos al otro lado de la isla y contamos 280 brantas. Ah� permanecimos hasta las 12:10 p.m. Mientras que el otro grupo de alumnos fue a otro sitio de observaci�n en donde contaron 3,200 brantas.
Al llegarse las 12:30 p.m. llegaron en la panga los dem�s alumnos, por los que est�bamos solos en la isla y as� todos juntos en una sola panga, nos fuimos al lugar de donde hab�amos salido, claro no sin antes ver el espect�culo de 5 delfines.

HASTA PRONTO
GRUPO P.A.E..B.

NEW BRANT OBSERVATION 12/27/99
GROUP P.A.E.B.

Hello! Branting buddies:
In November 27, the group participating in the Brant Project, made our filed trip. The first site was “Estero La Bocana”, we get there by bus at 7:30 a.m., and we started to count Brants, and we counted 450 juveniles.
We leave from this site at 9:07 hrs. We arrive at the second site, “Estero del Coyote" at 9:30 hrs., we had invited to accompany us the Community Representative from Punta Abreojos, Mr. Placido Arce, he was very helpful, and was in charge of videotaping the activities in the site.
At the arrival, we have our lunch, and after a while, around 10:30 a.m., one group get into the boat, and leave to an island and in the way, we saw two dolphins very close to us. When we get to the island, there were no one there. We decide to go to the other side to make the observation and count the Brants. We walk and when finally we get there we were very tired and the feet hurt and we have scratches. We count 280 Brants; also we stay there until 12:10 hrs. The other group visits another place to observed and counter 3200 brants.
The other group of students got there at 12:30 hrs. and as there were no one in the island, the whole group had to return in the same boat, but no before seen five dolphins in a great spectacle.

SEE YOU!
GROUP P.A.E.B.

29. 01/28/00. Birch Bay Northern Washington State . Just South of the
Canadain border near Blaine Washington . Today's low tide makes Observing
Brant in Birch Bay a little easier. At the State Park in the Bay a
Flock of 176 were observed close to shore 61 + were observed for bands
Aqua Bands VK7 , Blue 3TH , White -40 and -T7 possible band Yellow 8V8
All birds were Black Bellies that hauled out . Later after a Bald Eagle
had flushed the geese out into the Bay . I drove to a flock in
the S.E. portion of the bay and saw Three Gray Bellies with 13 Black Bellies
One Aqua Banded bird LVH . At 17:00 just after sunset a total count of the
Bay was done and 281 Brant were counted . Also seen in good numbers
were Harlequin duck Histrionicus histrionicus , Barrow's and Common Goldeneye
Bucephala islandica - clangula . And even a few Oldsquaw Clangula hyemalis
Tides are an important factor in observing brant in this part of the World
As this area has a lot of shallow Bays. Timing the tides and planning saves
disappointment . Richard Swanston Delta , B.C. Canada

30. On Tuesday, February 1st, Rachel, Kaylee, Travis, and Nick set out in the "Brant Mobile". It was a cold, rainy, and windy day. We visited three sites and did not see a single brant. We saw many other birds such as eagles, gulls, hawks, and herons. We were pretty disappointed that we did not see any brant, but the weather conditions did not make for good visibility.

31. None

32. Today Kelee, Leah, Devin, and Nate set out to go "Branting". Our first site was Camp Kirby. The tide was at its highest at 8.83 ft. We spotted 194 brant. No juveniles were seen. The brant were far out on the water and were pecking at it. At our next site, North Samish, we saw 145 brant. They were very far out on the water so we could not distinguish any juveniles. The tide was about 8 ft. going out. We observed the brant pecking at the water again. At Swinomish Slough we only counted 5 brant, but we positively identified 2 as juveiles. Other interesting birds we saw along the way were bald eagles, red-tailed hawks, rough-legged hawks, Northern Harriers, and a prairie falcon! We had an awesome time!

33. Hola Colegas Observadores de BRANTAS:
Este s�bado 22 de Enero del 2000 hicimos un recorrido por los sitios donde acostumbramos a observar Brantas, acompa�ados del Profr. Javier Patr�n Cese�a.
Somos un grupo de j�venes estudiantes de secundaria en Punta Abreojos, Baja California Sur. En esta ocasi�n vismos muchas Brantas, en un sitio vimos 230 y en el otro 4600 Brantas, la mayor�a juveniles. El d�a estaba un poco fr�o para nosotros, alrededor de 12 a 16 grados cent�grados por la ma�ana. A mediodia el clima era m�s c�lido y agradable.
Nosotros podemos observar Brantas en pangas, pues nos gusta hacerlo. Tenemos una duda vimos muchas cr�as de Brantas y queremos saber si esas cr�as nacieron aqu�.
Nuestros nombres son Adriana, Lidia, Diana y Claudia, queremos entablar comunicaci�n con j�venes que desean hacer una amistad, nuestras edades son 15 y 14 a�os respectivamente.
Hasta pronto, se despide de ustedes el grupo P.A.E.B. Esperando una pronta contestaci�n.
P.D. P.A.E.B. significa: Punta Abreojos y Estero de la Bocana

Hi Brant observers:
On Saturday January 22, 2000 we have a field trip to the sites we use to observe Brants, Prof. Javier Patron Cese�a, acompanied us.
We are a group of students from the Secondary School in Punta Abreojos, Baja California Sur, M�xico. In this time we saw lots of Brants, in one site we count 230 and in the next one 4600, most juveniles. The day was a little cold for us, arround 53 - 60 farenhait by the morning. At noon the weather was warmer and nice.
We use small boats to observe Brants, we like that.
We have a question. That day we saw many gooslings and we want to know if the little ones were born here.
We are Adriana, Lidia, Diana and Claudia and we want to get in contact with kids who want to have a friendship relation, our ages are 15 and 14.
See you later, from the P.A.E.B. group. Hopping to have a quick response.
P.S. P.A.E.B. means: "Punta Abreojos y Estero de la Bocana"

34. Hi, we are Sarah Wasserman, Patsy Mallett, Peter Voorhees, and Dustin Thurmond. Today we went "branting" and saw 225 brant. Most of the brant were hauled out on spits accessing gravel. We observed them preening and resting. Camp Kirby was the only site where we were close enough to see any juveniles. We counted three juveniles out of the six birds that we saw there. The weather was cold and windy, and it started to rain just as we finished the trip. The tide was about 7 feet and going out. Other birds we saw include bald eagles, great blue heron, harlequin ducks, and red-tailed hawks.

35. This Morning at the Boundary Bay Regional Park Delta, B.C. Canada . There was a flock
of 172 Brant . And of the 119 That could be observed out of the water enough to determine
31 were grey bellies . At one point aprox. 38 + were out of the water ONE Grren band
L1N . This bird was seen ALL this Winter in the Delta area it was also seen last year .
A Blue and White band was also seen . No Brant were seen in the area between the Robert's
Bank Coal Terminal and the Ferry Causeway here in Delta . This is a common area to see
large Number of brant during the Spring migration .
Richard Swanston , Delta

36. Hello. We are Camlynn Rickert, Nicole Paulley-Davenport, Heather Smith, and Jenni Bobillot from Bay View Elementary School in Burlington, Washington. Today we went Branting and made three different stops. The first stop we saw about 150 Brant, the second we saw about 50, and the third we couldn't see any. Along the way we saw many Red tailed hawks, Pintails, Great Blue Herons, and Eagles. The weather today was rainy and cold. Also we didn't get a very close look at any of the flocks of Brant, so we couldn't tell the percentage juveniles.

37. Surveyed most of the shoreline of the the lower 5 mile segment of the Coos Estuary. Survey conducted near high tide from a Kayak. The only Brant seen were in a small group in the vicinity of Fossil Point. Birds were resting. No vocalizations heard even though we were close enough to hear if they had vocalized.

38. I went out to the Robert's Bank coal port on the ebb tide in the afternoon/evening. Their was a light southeasterly breeze of about 12 knots. Did not observe any birds sitting, as it is now the breef hunting season (March 1-10), and therefore hunters in the area disturb the birds. Saw one quite large flock of approximately 40 birds, another of 8, and several other small bunches of 2's to 4's. All birds were in the distance and therefore I wasn't able to see any bands or identify any juveniles.

39. It was a bright and sunny day today. I went down to Centennial Beach in Delta, B.C. When I arrived, it was warm and sunny and very calm. Due to lots of walkers/dog activity, there were no birds near the beach. However, across from the bay, something disturbed a large flock of birds, and they all departed the area. There were approximately 250 birds in several VERY large strings. The flock flew south towards Washington, and then split into two groups. One part continued south, and the other smaller part headed north towards Point Roberts. There was also a flock of about 40 birds sitting about a mile offshore from where I was. They sat there for quite a while, drifting with the tide and chattering away. Suddenly, a northwesterly breeze started to fill in, and it increased to about 15 knots in 20 minutes. An eagle flew by, and the Brant took off in a large ball and swarmed around for a minute or two before disappearing downwind towards Blaine, WA.

40.
Hi- our names are Mary Ruggenburg, Ashlee Johnson, Josh Write, and Gable Wilkins from Bay View Elementary School. We went on a Brant trip today. It was sunny for the first time in over a week, although the wind was still cold. We saw about 310 Brants. We positively identified some juvenile Brant but we may have been too far away to get an accurate count. At North Samish, our second stop, we did not see any geese. At our third site, Swinomish Slough, we saw a large flock, with some juveniles. They were feeding in open water, and were disturbed several times by human activity, such as a train and boats going by, and the nearby highway.

41. Today was a very calm day with a low overcast . With no wind usually this makes for poor
brant weather in Boundary Bay . Add to that it being the ninth day of are Brant Hunting
season one would not expect Brant to turn up in the Bay .But 52 Black Brant
and 4 Gray Brant made a good showing threading there way skillfully through
the Hunters and into the safety of the Parks Beach . Unlike yesterday all the
hunters respected the no shooting Boundary . [ We had Three punts well over the Boundary
with 5 Hunters firing at birds close to the Park for over three hours .Until the falling
tides drove them off , or there Bag limit was used up . ] Today 48 birds hauled out
Red Band GTV , a bird seen several times this year . Along with another Winter Bird
Blue Band 5KE , Yellow Band ZLK Was also seen .
Also Today I made a short trip down to Birch Bay Washington State U.S.A.
The high count for the Whole Bay was 248 birds One flock had a total of 194 Birds of which
25 were juv. and 3 Gray Brant . Another flock had 45 birds of which 15 were Gray Bellies that
could be counted .
Blue Bands ; L7H , E43 , 2YY , AHN . Green Band ; VN2 Aqua ; VK7 .
were observed just off the beach at Birch Bay State Park .
Thanks Richard Delta , B.C. Canada

42. Today in Boundary Bay Delta , B.C. there was calm sea and
light airs the sky was overcast. A flock of 98 brant were
close enough to see bands. What was a surprise was that only one
White Band 9GG . Also seen 22 GRAY BELLIED BRANT .
The total number of brant counted from a tower at Boundary
Bay Regional Park in the whole Bay 486 Brant most well out in
the middle or Eastern Portions of the Bay . Also seen from the
tower was 49 Bald Eagles in the Bay.
And for the last Three days brant were using the beach in the
Lighthouse Park Area Point Roberts Washington State U.S.A. A small
Area or Point of land South of the 49th parallel only accessible by
land through Canada .
This afternoon a total of 16 could be seen using this popular
Spring migration area . I hope to report larger numbers of birds from
this area in the future . Richard

43. Mike Graybill, manager at South Slough Reserve, reports seeing 31 brant at Fossil Point in the Coos Estuary. We are starting to get concerned since it is so late and still only a few brant!

44. Mike Graybill again reports that brant are flying in over the entrance to the Bay and landing at Fossil Point in the Coos Estuary! Charleston students will be going to check for themselves this afternoon!

45. Morro Bay numbers climbed through January and peaked at 3,800 during the first week of February. Numbers then dropped below 3,000 and have been between 2,500 and 2,800 for the past month. Band reads this season (about 1,100) once again show that there is a core population that has been here since fall migration (which includes many family groups) and other brant that have been moving through. Many birds that I've seen arrive here this spring have stopped here at about the same time for the past three years in a row since I've been reading bands.

46. We are Richard Payne, Amanda Bolen, Anna Tryon, Chad Wolfe, Chelsea Burns, Autumn McEnroe, Eric Wilson, Nicholas Burcher, Brittany Alercet, Cassie McGinness, Aaron McCassland, and Nick Mills. Half of us went to the South Slough Bridge in Charleston with Celeste, from South Slough Reserve and the other half went with Mr. Eschler, a teacher at our school, to Fossil Point.

The group at the South Slough Bridge: we were able to crane our necks and strain our eyes and juuuust baaarely see the Brant at Fossil Point. We could see about 100 of them, though they moved out of the area and out of sight pretty quickly. We also saw Surf Scoter, Black Turnstones, Harlequin Ducks and sea lions.

The group at Fossil Point: we saw about 200 brant, close enough so that through the scopes, we could watch them eating eelgrass. We noticed that they really kept an eye on us the whole time we were there. They are wary birds.

47. Mike Graybill reports to Charleston Elementary school that he saw 348 brant at Fossil Point! Charleston students are on spring break until next week and then will be going on their class field trips to observe brant geese in detail. There should be lots more by then!

48. Our numbers in Morro Bay have been steadily declining. Last week on 3/17 there were 2200 brant here.

49. We, Laura, Justin, Andrea and Tristan, went Branting on March 20th. We saw 16 Brant at our first stop, where they were gravelling and preening. At our second stop we saw no Brant, but we saw Buffleheads, and eagles (one juvenile and adult at very close range!). At our third stop, Swinomish Slough, we saw what we first thought was a flock of about 120 or 130 Brant. But then they started to fly and we realized it was a flock of 800+! They were too far away to tell whether we were seeing juveniles or adults.

50. Wednesday the 29th of March was our first Brant Field Trip as a class! In fact, two of the 4th grade classes from Charleston Elementary School went: Miss Currier's class and Mrs. Main's class. We walked from our school to a jetty called Point Adams. From there, we could look across the channel to Fossil Point, where the Brant hang out. It was breezy and clear. We performed three tasks out on the windy jetty: we observed and recorded the behaviors of the Brant (using spotting scopes), we identified and carefully examined eelgrass, and we mapped the area that the Brant were in.

It was a great day, and for many of us, the first time we had seen the Brant. It was so windy that our count is just an estimate, and we know that other Brant were just around the corner, out of sight.

51. Thursday the 30th of March was the day for two other class field trips from Charleston Elementary School: Miss Yovino and Mrs. Neal's classes. These are 4th and 5th grade blend classes. Again, we walked from the school to Point Adams, about a mile away. It was a gorgeous day!

We spotted about 200-300 brant across the bay at Fossil Point, exactly where Miss Currier's and Mrs. Main's classes had seen them the day before. There was a raft of surf scoters floating close to us in the water and when we looked carefully, we saw that 5 brant floated with them! We've never seen brant so close before!

On the way back to school, we made up a brant song.

52. I went without the students yesterday because of spring break. I counted a total of 370 Brant. Possibly saw many more in Samish Bay, but they were too far away to tell. I got a closer look today at a group of birds in the area where I thought I may have seen Brant, and determined them to be Surf Scoters, So I'm not sure. I hope we begin to see larger numbers soon (and get a closer look at them).
-Keelan
Padilla Bay NERR

53. Brant numbers here in Morro Bay in central California have done the following in the past month: 3/11 - 2700; 3/17 - 2200; 3/23 - 1600; 3/30 - 1300; 4/7 - 700.

54. On April 11, Tyler, Jessie, Kelli, Shaun and Keelan set out for a brant adventure. We saw an approximate total of 302 Brant between the three sighting spots. The weather was sunny and the water was calm. Most of the brant were either flying, resting, or gravelling. We were too far away to tell if they were juveniles or adults. While looking for brant we saw many other interesting birds, such as: surf scoter, common merganser, red tailed and rough legged hawks, and eagles. We saw most of the brant (a flock of about 300) at Swinomish Slough. One of the most fascinating things we saw was the great blue heron nests in the trees. Overall, this trip was a great learning experience and would be enjoyable to do again.

55. They're almost all gone from Morro Bay now. This year's population departure is a week or two earlier than the last two year's.

56. This day, Mr. Eschler's 5th grade class visited Fossil Point during a low tide to observe the brant. The birds were fairly close and we made an effort to move carefully and quietly, so as not to scare them. It was sunny with some clouds and the air was balmy. Aaron observed two bands, a yellow one and a blue one, though the numbers could not be seen. We mapped the area, studied the eelgrass beds and found bits of sea lettuce. We spent a little while observing the intertidal organisms in the tidepools as well.

After an hour and a half at Fossil Point, we loaded the bus and drove to Point Adams. This is at the end of a jetty in Charleston and it has been interesting to see the beach move from one side of the jetty to the tip of the jetty over the course of a few years. We had lunch here and watched a boat dredging up sand bars that impede boat traffic into the Charleston harbor.

57. This observation was taken on April 13. The weather was cold and rainy. We saw 307 Brant, 300 of which we were at Swinomish slough. They were too far away to tell if they were adults or juveniles. The Brant were gravelling, swimming, and resting.
On the way we saw several different types of birds, most of which were Bald Eagles and Peregrine Falcons. We also saw Great Blue Herons, Red winged black birds, mallards, loons, surf scoters, and a flock of really cool Red-Breasted Mergansers. Bye for now- Katie, Kellen, Sean, and Nate.

58. On April 18, 2000 we went branting in the Brantmobile. It was a warm and sunny day. We didn't see any Brant at the first site. We did see Harrier hawks, a lot of bald eagles, and Great Blue Herons. At the Swinomish Slough we did see about 50 Brant from far away (and behind some trees). We were unable to tell whether they were adults or juveniles. We think one of the reasons we didn't see a lot of Brant was because the tide was low, and maybe they were sleeping. If they did leave for good, they went to Alaska.

59. Hi! We are Alyssa, Dana, Alfredo and Will, 8th graders from Bay View Elementary. The first place we went was Swinomish Slough, at 10:55 AM. The tide was high, at 6 feet, and it was very cold and windy. Unfortunately there were no brant to be found. Next we went to Camp Kirby at 12:30 PM. The tide was at 4 ft and the wind was blowing hard. We saw 28 black-bellied brant flying across the bay. The last place we went was North Samish, at 1:05 PM. The tide was at 3 ft and there were no brant. Other were birds we saw on our trip were great blue herons, a pintail duck, seagulls, cormorants, scoters, a harrier hawk, and several eagles (some immature bald eagles).

60. As you can see by the low number of stragglers remaining, Morro Bay has emptied out and the eelgrass beds are breathing a collective sigh of relief as am I because my observation season is over. Adios all.

61. It was May 5 nd Nick Owens, Kaylee Berentson, Anna Fox-Burfoot and Doug Johnson went branting and instead of writing some dumb article we decided to write a poem:

It was windy an dsunny in the Brant Mobile,
Our guide Keelan was behind the wheel.
The first site we saw there were approximately 1000 brant,
"Over there! There's a brant!" We started to chant.

The next site we saw nothing except two old men,
Who told us a story about when,
The brant someimes fly here,
And even come near.

The last site we stopped there was nothing there
So we went to Texaco so Anna could fix her hair.
And Doug could get some pop,
Then to the Interpretive Center was our last stop.

That's where we wrote this poem about our trip,
Anna brought stinky nacho cheese dip.
And even though this poem kind of sucks,
We had fun and saw a lot of ducks.

Typed By: Kaylee Berentson (who will be an actress)

62. Just a test..... to make sure it now goes to the new email address... sorry.

Mark Herzog

63. Today in Boundary Bay Delta , B.C. Canada there was 252 Brant With about 110
close to the beach and out of the water 3 Gray Bellies were observed one a juv.
We are fortunate here as we have many shorebirds passing through are Delta and at
this time they are in Breeding Plumage beautiful Black Bellied Plover [ Pluvialis
squartarola ] Semipalmated Plover [ Charadrius semipalmatus ] Western Sandpiper
[ Calidris mauri ] Dunlin [ Calidris alpina ] All these shorebirds bring Falcons
with them and it was a fantastically beautifull adult Peregrine Falcon [ falco
peregrinus ] That scared off the Brant I was observing while hunting a Western
Sandpiper . The following bands were read any Friends ? White Band 21A
Aqua Bands ; L2L , ZKN Blue band LLA Green Band ; H4A , H7E , H78 .
a further 45 Brant were counted between the Coal terminal and the Tsawwassen
Ferry Terminal in Delta , B.C. Some of are Brant look Very Tired there feathers
are badly worn and in poor shape they have suffered over there long migration
and the hot Southern weather . One had no foot and three were lame on one leg .
So this may be the last of the stragglers heading North .

64. Hi. This is Nate, Leah, Jenni and Jonathan. Today was a hot and sunny day. We saw about 600 brant from three different places. They were swimming in the middle of the bay, since the tide was really low. We also saw red-tailed hawks, rough-legged hawks, two seals, and eagles, one which was really close and one that was hunting. We aslo saw a train go by. Bye.

65. 05/31/00. Once again this year we have some late Brant in are area
14 Brant were seen today at the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal , Delta , B.C.
Canada . All were out of the water and one only had a metal band on the
Right leg. Most looked horrible and were well into the moult . Have a great
Summer Richard Delta , B.C.

66. These observations didn't go through, so I'm updating them!

On May 11, Rachel, Chelsie, Peter and Devin went Branting. The weather was a mixture of wind and rain. We saw many different kinds of birds such as eagles, hawks, herons, falcons and norther harrier hawks. The majoraty of Brant we saw were at Camp Kirby. There were none at North Samish. At Swinomish Slough there were 28-30 Brant. After that we all headed in the Brant-mobile back to the center. Goodbye!

67. On May 18. Kelee, Sarah, Tyler and Griffen went to North Samish, Swinomish Slough and Camp Kirby. At camp Kirby we saw about 500 Brant. There was a small group of brant gravelling on the spit. Some of them were juveniles. We didn't see any other brant after Camp Kirby because the tide was all the way out. Besides Brant, we saw Bald eagles, red tailed hawks, a swan, and a peregrine falcon. We didn't see birds at our other stops because the tide was so far out- which makes the Brant geese move out into the middle of the bay to reach the eelgrass that is growing farther out.

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International Brant Monitoring ProjectObservation Log

1999/2000 Observations

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International Brant Monitoring Project
Observation Log