World Trip Reports

Brent goose Branta bernicla (Morocco)

I've seen two brent gooses last week in the Merja Zerga lagoon (nort-west of Morocco) witch is a ramsar site.
I was surprised to see this species early in september !!
You don't be ??

Very surprised. Here at 64°N our first birds arrived back from Canada only at the beginning of last week, and they'll stay here for a month or so before heading off to the UK and Ireland for the winter.
Does this species occur in the winter in Morocco? I thought they wintered much further north! Do you know which sub-species it was Pale-bellied (B.b. hrota), Dark-bellied (B.b. bernicla) or Black Brant (B.b. nigricans)?

E

Me too,
but with brent as well as with other goose species, i have often seen the following scenario:
sometimes weak or wounded birds or also disorientated youngsters which have lost contact to their parents during migration oversummer at the wintering sites. That is a quite common sight in the north see area- if the birds got over the summer and are in good condition again in autumn, they then soon rejoin the arriving wintering flocks of the species.

so could it be that those brents were oversummering at that site?

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