Chilliwack Brant

[Gord]

This afternoon at Island 22 as the snow was coming down, an odd sound caught my ear. It was coming from four geese. They called again and I eliminated Canada, Cackling and Gr. White-fronted Geese. Well, the size would have made me discard thinking Canada Goose too. Anyway, they were flying westerly and I managed to get to my vehicle to get my binoculars and get a look as they passed. They have quite the 'honk'. While not overly loud, it sort of had a Sandhill Crane sound to them (to me).

Have a listen at the link below. I think the last few seconds is flight calls and the majority at the beginning are of birds feeding.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/brant/sounds/ac

This is the third record for the checklist area for the species. The last one was in 2005. More information can be found at the recently updated website (scroll down to recent updates to find the link to the Brant page)

www.fraservalleybirding.com/index.htm

[martin]

Gord, Just a thought I could be way off here, but did you think about some errant Snow geese , the indivduals sound different than a flock.

Either way great sighting or hearing

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snow_Goose/sounds/ac

[Chris]

Great sighting Gord. Never know what you are going to see, especially during migration.

Martin, I am pretty sure Gord saw these birds which would eliminate the Snow Goose possibility. Good suggestion though.

[murraybrown]

Gord, That is an amazing sighting. I have certainly heard of a lost Brant ending up with flocks of other goose species over the years but this is different. Four birds constitutes a flock and that is really something.

Do you think they were following the Fraser up our way?

[murraybrown]

Gord, just re-read your post and I see the birds were heading downriver. I wonder where they were coming from?

[martin]

Mar 14, 2012 11:42:17 GMT -8 Chris said:

Great sighting Gord. Never know what you are going to see, especially during migration.

Martin, I am pretty sure Gord saw these birds which would eliminate the Snow Goose possibility. Good suggestion though.

Sorry didn't mean to ruffle any feathers.
Gords post read to me like he wasn't sure, but I see he posted it in March's record so he must be sure

[Chris]

Martin, no need to apologize. When it comes to any sighting, any other possible suggestions that it could be a different species are important. Sometimes another possible species can be over looked or completely forgotten. I have done both multiple occasions and will continue to do so. As an example, a few days ago I posted a photo of what I thought was a Mew Gull, but it turned out to be a Ring-billed Gull.

You certainly didn't ruffle any feathers by posting what you did. I know Snow Goose crossed my mind too.

[Gord]

Martin, at risk of being Chris's echo, nothing at all to worry about! Part of sharing sightings is also to get constructive and supportive feedback which you provided. Your comments are valid and, in principle, very applicable in identifying birds. In this example, had I not seen the birds clearly and only heard them vocalize once or twice, taking into consideration a more common species making slightly different sounds (which can happen with numerous bird species) would be very prudent. I was not especially clear in my report either which all I can say is because I use up my best writing during my 'school time' before I get to 'bird time' late at night.

Murray, I have no idea why they were here and up to now, only single birds have been seen around here. In the brief window I saw them, they were flying mostly east to west with a bit of bias to southeast originally but could very easily had been doing something else before. They were not flying in a straight line and veered towards the pond and almost started to circle before going west but still changing direction slightly but noticeably every few seconds which, to a human, would look like a bit of confused wandering around (such as how I would appear when shopping with my wife and we're in the ladies shoe section and Im trying to escape)

[martin]

Maybe they took a right instead of a left due to bad weather, or thier GPS wasn't working up to snuff

Or if they are anything like me, the Dad could have been driving and didn't want to stop and ask directions, or on the otherhand you know how you are driving the same way every day of the week and on the weekend you accidently take the same turn to go too work.

Sorry again, my silly humor has taken hold of me and ruined this serious post. I'll stop now.

[kestrel]

Nice find Gord.