Spring Birding: More on the Putative Grey-bellied brant

 Spring Birding: More on the putative Grey-bellied brant in Ireland (Lurgangreen, Louth) 

Putative Female grey-bellied brant, Lurgangreen, Louth - Brian Mccloskey

My good friend Brian Mccloskey has been keeping a close eye over the hundreds of pale-bellied brent geese at Lurgangreen, Louth that are now gathering before migrating to Arctic Canada to breed very soon. As discussed in my previous writings about the grey-bellied brant in Ireland, they have yet to be set in stone as a subspecies. Some more work is needed on these fascinating birds in their breeding mainly on Melville and Prince Patrick Islands in western high-Arctic Canada. Perhaps some genetic work would be in order to find out what exactly a grey-bellied brant is, and is there regular interbreeding of pale-bellied and black brant to cause some more confusion! 

Since late autumn I have been keeping a close eye on the pale-bellied brent flocks in both South Dublin and Wicklow. On the 29th of October 2020 I found an adult male and it's juvenile and female family on Sandymount strand, Dublin. These birds later turned up at Kilcoole Marsh. An adult male was found in Kilbogget Park, by Stephen King and later seen in North Dublin and now it seems Lurgangreen, Louth. Another female type bird was noted in the Phoenix Park, Dublin by Sean Gereaty and then by myself at Kilcoole Marsh. These are some of the well documented birds so far in the 2020/21 period of brent/brant in Ireland. And I'm sure quite a few more where out there for the finding, especially in the west of Ireland.

Each year Lurgangreen gets vast numbers of the pale-bellied brent goose in early spring before they migrate. For a number of year there has now been several grey-bellied candidates recorded. Yesterday, March 21st Brian Mccloskey picked out a Female bird that shows features that are suggestive of the grey-bellied brant. Female birds are often considered to be unidentifiable, though this may only be the case with the more subtle of birds. This individual is certainly quite eye catching amongst the pale-bellied flocks. The family flock of three juvenile/First-winter, adult male and presumed female that I found on Sandymount strand, Dublin and then seen again for a few days at Kilcoole Marsh gave a good insight to what a subtle female grey-bellied type looked like. After spending a couple of hours watching this Female as she stayed close to the juvenile/First-winters it seemed she was also a good candidate for a grey-bellied. A bird I recorded at Kilcoole Marsh on March 5th also appeared to be a Female and a good grey-bellied candidate (Which appears to be a bird seen in Dublin back in January 2021) which I mentioned in short while babeling on about the presumed hybrid pale x dark-bellied brent which was also present that day. The real question to ask is, are grey-bellied brant as rare as we think in Ireland? I don't think they are with a number of strong candidates being recorded in 2020/2021 including family flocks. Considering their range to pale-bellied, it would make perfect sense for them to mix and find their way to Ireland in steady numbers each year. It's great to see more more people documenting these birds each year. 

Now, let's take a look at some of the recent Lurgangreen, Louth birds found by Brian Mccloskey. An adult female, adult male and two First-winters were all present today on site. The adult male and First-winters sticking together and the female feeding separately having nothing to do with the others. It seems that the adult male and two First-winters are the birds that were found by Stephen King in Kilbogget Park, Dublin back in January last. And they have now moved to Lurgangreen as they progress north along the coast, one step closer to home to breed. Have a look at Brian and Stephen's photos and some of my thoughts below. 

Putative female grey-bellied brant, Lurgangreen, Louth - Brian Mccloskey

This series of images show off the true brown/grey colouration of the under parts of this Female bird. The upper part tone is also slightly darker of that of a pale-bellied brent, often something that stands out in the field while scanning large numbers of pale-bellied. This bird is thought to be a female due to the lack of a broad neck collar and the paleness of the under parts. This is a bird that can safely be separated from pale-bellied. It also shows the brown/grey running under the vent which is a nice feature to go with the others noted. Some very nice comparison shots above with pale-bellied brent which is important to get a good sense of why this is considered to be different to the pale-bellies.

Putative adult male and two First-winters grey-bellied brent, Lurgangreen, Louth - Brian Mccloskey

Adult male and two First-winters grey-bellied candidates that spent some time during January in Kilbogget Park and then later in the winter in northern parts of Dublin. This is a very striking and dark bird on both the under and upper parts. Showing a broad white collar that meets at the bottom rather than the top on a black brant. A very eye catching bird to say the least! And one I didn't get to catch up with this year. The First-winter birds are slightly more subtle than the male, though they are still quite striking amongst the pale-bellied flocks.

Top image Kilbogget, Dublin January, Stephen King - Bottom image Lurgangreen, Louth March, Brian Mccloskey

Two comparison images of the adult males collar. It appears to be very similar and suggests that this is the same bird that has been in Dublin earlier this winter and has now since moved to Louth. The second phonescoped image just is not quite clear enough to get good details of the collar, so hopefully it is seen and photographed well again soon. Or perhaps with some new improvement shots of the flank pattern and collar this adult male is a different bird to the Kilbogget, Dublin bird perhaps? Though I highly suspect it to be the winter bird from Kilbogget.

This is an absolutely fascinating subject that myself, Brian Mccloskey and Joe Proudfoot having been working on for a while now. Both in the field and online gathering information and images. We hope to shed some light on what is potentially a new subspecies to the birding world and hope you enjoy and haven't fallen asleep again like with most of my long drawn out blogs about subspecies or gulls 😂

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