Houts Reservoir, Larimer Brant --- what flavor is it?

[Steven Mlodinow]

Greetings All

Methinks that the Brant inhabiting Houts Reservoir is a Gray-bellied Brant. This population is regulated by USFWS and is treated like a subspecies but has yet to receive a trinomial Latin name. They breed in the Western Canadian High Arctic and winter in Washington's northern Puget Sound. The population is something like 10,000 birds or so as I recall

There is a reasonable depiction of this "taxon" in the more recent National Geo Guides. The Sibley Guide is to be ignored on this topic

Photos to be posted to my Flickr page, with discussion, on Monday

Cheers

Steven Mlodinow 

Longmont CO

[Derek Hill]

What's wrong for Atlantic Brant? Granted I have not seen much in the way of solid field marks to pick out this odd Melville Island/Puget Sound/'dark-bellied'/intermediate Brant, I am curious how this bird differs from a typical east coast bird.    "Melville Island is one of two major breeding grounds for a small sea goose, the Brant Goose.  DNA analysis and field observations suggest that these birds may be distinct from other brant stocks. Numbering 4,000-8,000 birds, this could be one of the rarest goose stocks in the world."  (wiki).  Would love to tick one of the rarest geese in the world!  Monday can't come fast enough! oh wait yeah mondays suck.  Where can we find more info on brant ID besides national geographic?
DJH