Brant
Image copyright by Mark A. Chappell
These attractive little geese used to be called 'black brant' on the west coast (and were viewed as a separate species from the somewhat paler brants found on the east coast), but both are now considered as geographical races of a single species. Western brants breed in the Arctic and winter in lagoons in California and Baja California; these birds were part of a small flock in Mission Bay in San Diego, CA; the one in the picture below is eating a piece of eelgrass (a dietary staple for brants).
