Welcome to our new web site! The Washington Brant Foundation hopes this visit will increase your understanding and appreciation of this unique wildlife species and how to protect and preserve its habitat.

The Black Brant (Branta bernicla nigricans) is a small sea goose that is about the size of the common Mallard and stages one of the most spectacular migrations of all waterfowl. The Brant leave their Arctic staging grounds in late fall, they fly non-stop for almost 50 hours to their wintering grounds in Baja, Mexico. Brant perform some of their most important staging in the greater Puget Sound area prior to moving north in the spring. The largest concentrations of Brant in the Puget Sound usually occur between February and May. Peak numbers occur in mid-April, coincidental to the annual spawning season of the Pacific herring.

Brant numbers have been declining in recent decades. This is due in part to the rapid growth of the human population in coastal communities in the Strait of Georgia. This growth causes disturbances to the brants estuaries, beaches, bays and spits where they feed and rest before their migration north to Arctic breeding grounds.

You can help by joining the Washington Brant Foundation, to help protect and preserve their habitat through sponsorship of scientific research, education, and habitat enhancement programs.

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15758 Fir Island Road xx Mount Vernon, WA 98273