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The Brent goose (Branta bernicla), also known as Brant goose, has holarctic distribution.These goose species are long-distance migratory birds, having circumpolar breeding distribution and coastal temperate wintering distribution. They are distributed in North America, Europe and Asia.
Brent goose distribution
These goose species have circumpolar breeding distribution. The breeding birds are distributed in northwest USA (north, west and southern parts of Alaska and north-west British Columbia), north and northeast Canada, Denmark (north Greenland), Norway (Svalbard) and northern Russia (Franz Josef Land, Arctic Siberia and Taymyr Peninsula).The brent goose species have coastal temperate wintering distribution. In the coastal North Atlantic Ocean, wintering goose species, are distributed in Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, United Kingdom, France, northwest Spain and northeast USA.
In the coastal North Pacific Ocean, wintering birds are distributed in southern peninsular Alaska, west coast of USA and west coast of Mexico, Japan, yellow sea region of China and South Korea.
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| 1.Brent goose image by Peter Massas |
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| 2.Brent goose image by Arpingstone |
Distribution of brent goose subspecies
There are four recognized subspecies, viz., Branta bernicla bernicla (Linnaeus, 1758), Branta bernicla hrota (O. F. MΓΌller, 1776), Branta bernicla nigricans (Lawrence, 1846) and Branta bernicla orientalis Tugarinov, 1941.The nominate subspecies Branta bernicla bernicla (dark-bellied brant) breeds in the Arctic coasts of western and central Siberia.
In winter, its distribution is along the western European coast, spread mostly over southern United Kingdom. The wintering brent goose subspecies B. b. bernicla also occurs in Germany and France.
The distribution of the subspecies Branta bernicla hrota (pale-bellied brant goose) in the breeding season is in northeastern Canada, Greenland, Svalbard (Norway) and Franz Josef Land.
The subspecies B. b. hrota winters in North Atlantic coast of USA (North Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York,Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts), Denmark and Ireland.
The breeding seasonal distribution of the subspecies Branta bernicla nigricans (black-bellied brent goose) is in extreme northeast Siberia, Alaska and north-central Canada.
The wintering subspecies B. b. nigricans is distributed in coastal regions of North Pacific Ocean in western USA, Mexico, Japan, South Korea and eastern China.
The breeding population of the subspecies Branta bernicla orientalis is distributed in northeast Siberia (Russia). The wintering birds are presumed to occur along North Pacific Ocean coast.
1.Brent goose image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Branta_bernicla_-Keyport,_New_Jersey,_USA-8.jpg (cropped)
Author: Peter Massas | License: CC BY-SA 2.0 as on 1/10/19
3.Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Black.brant.slimbridge.march2007.arp.jpg (cropped)
Author: Arpingstone | License: Public domain as on 1/10/19
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Updated Jan 13, 2019
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