View source for Branta

{{Short description|Genus of birds}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = <br />[[Late Miocene]]-[[Holocene]]
| image = Branta canadensis -Smythe Park, Toronto, Canada-8.jpg
| image_caption = A [[Canada goose]] (''Branta canadensis'') swimming at Smythe Park, [[Toronto|Toronto, Ontario]], Canada
| taxon = Branta
| authority = [[Giovanni Antonio Scopoli|Scopoli]], 1769
| type_species = ''[[Brant goose|Anas bernicla]]'' ([[Brant goose]])
| type_species_authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1758 
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = 
''[[Branta bernicla]]''<br/>
''[[Branta canadensis]]''<br/>
''[[Branta hutchinsii]]''<br/>
''[[Branta leucopsis]]''<br/>
''[[Branta ruficollis]]''<br/>
''[[Branta sandvicensis]]''<br/>
and see [[#Systematics|text]]
| synonyms =
''Nesochen'' <small>[[Tommaso Salvadori|Salvadori]], 1895</small>
}}

The '''black geese''' of the [[genus]] '''''Branta''''' are [[waterfowl]] belonging to the [[Goose|true geese]] and [[swan]]s [[subfamily]] [[Anserinae]]. They occur in the northern coastal regions of the [[Palearctic]] and all over [[North America]], [[Bird migration|migrating]] to more southerly coasts in winter, and as [[resident bird]]s in the [[Hawaiian Islands]]. Alone in the [[Southern Hemisphere]], a self-sustaining [[Feral animal|feral]] population derived from introduced [[Canada geese]] is also found in [[New Zealand]]. 

The black geese derive their vernacular name for the prominent areas of black coloration found in all species. They can be distinguished from all other true geese by their legs and feet, which are black or very dark grey. Furthermore, they have black bills and large areas of black on the head and neck, with white (ochre in one species) markings that can be used to tell apart most species.<ref group="note">The [[nēnē]], which is aberrant in many respects, has no white on the head or neck and fairly little black, being quite similar to the [[swan goose]] in the color pattern of these areas, and was thus formerly assigned to the monotypic genus ''Nesochen''. The swan goose, a [[grey goose]], also has a black bill, but its reddish-orange legs indicate its actual relationships.</ref> As with most geese, their undertail and uppertail coverts are white. They are also on average smaller than other geese, though some very large [[Taxon|taxa]] are known, which rival the [[swan goose]] and the [[black-necked swan]] in size.

The [[Eurasia]]n species of black geese have a more coastal distribution compared to the [[Grey goose|grey geese]] (genus ''[[Anser (bird)|Anser]]'') which share the same general area of occurrence, not being found far inland even in winter (except for occasional stray birds or individuals escaped from captivity). This does not hold true for the American and Pacific species, in whose ranges grey geese are, for the most part, absent.

==Taxonomy==
The genus ''Branta'' was introduced by the Austrian naturalist [[Giovanni Antonio Scopoli]] in 1769.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Scopoli | first=Giovanni Antonio | author-link=Giovanni Antonio Scopoli | year=1769 | title=Annus Historico-Naturalis | volume=Part 1 | language=Latin | location=Lipsiae [Leipzig] | publisher=Sumtib. C.G. Hilscheri | page=67 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/31117656 }}</ref> The name is a Latinised form of [[Old Norse]] ''Brandgás'' meaning burnt as in "burnt (black) goose".<ref>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher = Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 |page = [https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n77 77]}}</ref> The [[type species]] is the [[brant goose]] (''Branta bernicla'').<ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Cottrell | editor2-first=G. William | year=1979 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=1 | edition=2nd | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=440 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16109080 }}</ref>

Ottenburghs and colleagues published a study in 2016 that established the phylogenetic relationships between the species.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1=Ottenburghs | first1=J. | last2=Megens | first2=H.-J. | last3=Kraus | first3=R.H.S. | last4=Madsen | first4=O. | last5=van Hooft | first5=P. | last6=van Wieren | first6=S.E. | last7=Crooijmans | first7=R.P.M.A. | last8=Ydenberg | first8=R.C. | last9=Groenen | first9=M.A.M. | last10=Prins | first10=H.H.T. | date=2016 | title=A tree of geese: A phylogenomic perspective on the evolutionary history of True Geese | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution  | volume=101 | pages=303–313 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2016.05.021| pmid=27233434 | bibcode=2016MolPE.101..303O | url=http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:352-0-379362 }}</ref>
{{clade|style=font-size:100%;line-height:80%
|label1=''Branta''
|1={{clade
   |1=[[Brant (goose)|Brant]] (''Branta bernicla'') [[File:The geese of Europe and Asia (Branta bernicla bernicla).jpg|60 px]]
   |2={{clade
      |1={{clade
         |1=[[Red-breasted goose]] (''Branta ruficollis'') [[File:The geese of Europe and Asia (Branta ruficollis).jpg|60 px]]
         |2={{clade
            |1=[[Nene (bird)|Nene]] (''Branta sandvicensis'') [[File:The Birds of the Sandwich Islands (Bernicla sandvicensis).jpg|60 px]]
            |2={{clade
               |1=[[Canada goose]] (''Branta canadensis'') [[File:Ornithologia Neerlandica (Branta canadensis).png|60 px]]
               |2={{clade
                  |1=[[Barnacle goose]] (''Branta leucopsis'') [[File:The geese of Europe and Asia (Branta leucopsis).jpg|60 px]]
                  |2=[[Cackling goose]] (''Branta hutchinsii'') [[File:The geese of Europe and Asia (Branta hutchinsii).jpg|60 px]]
                  }}
               }}
            }}
         }}
      }}
   }}
}}

===Species list===
The genus contains six living [[species]].<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | year=2020 | title=Screamers, ducks, geese & swans | work=IOC World Bird List Version 10.2 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/waterfowl/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=7 October 2020 }}</ref>

{{Species table |genus= Branta |authority-name=[[Giovanni Antonio Scopoli|Scopoli]], |authority-year=1769 |species-count=six|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}}

{{Species table/row
|name=[[Brant (goose)|Brant]] (U.S.) or brent goose (U.K.)  |binomial=[[Branta bernicla]]
|image=File:Branta bernicla bernicla - Brent Goose.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Linnaeus|authority-year= 1758 |authority-not-original=yes
|range= High Arctic tundra. Circumpolar; several distinct breeding populations, which winter in particular areas (some of which overlap) along the northern temperate zone of the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines. Some resident populations can be found in the United States and Western Europe.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}
|range-image=File:BrantGooseMap.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Three subspecies |bullets=on
| ''B. b. nigricans'' ([[George Newbold Lawrence|Lawrence]], 1846)
| ''B. b. bernicla'' ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1758) 
| ''B. b. hrota'' ([[Otto Friedrich Müller|Müller, OF]], 1776)
}}
}}

{{Species table/row
|name=Red-breasted goose |binomial=[[Branta ruficollis]]
|image=File:Branta ruficollis 2.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Pallas |authority-year=1769 |authority-not-original=yes
|range=  Breeds in Arctic Siberia, mainly on the Taymyr Peninsula, with smaller populations in the Gydan and Yamal Peninsulas; wintering on northwestern shores of the Black Sea in Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine, as well as in Azerbaijan
|range-image=File:Branta ruficollis map.png
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status=VU
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}

{{Species table/row
|name=[[Nene (bird)|Nene]], nēnē, or Hawaiian goose |binomial=[[Branta sandvicensis]]
|image=File:Branta sandvicensis LC399.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Vigors|authority-year= 1834 |authority-not-original=yes
|range= Hawaiian Islands
|range-image=
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= NT
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}

{{Species table/row
|name= [[Canada goose]] |binomial=[[Branta canadensis]]
|image=File:Kanadagans Branta canadensis.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Linnaeus|authority-year= 1758 |authority-not-original=yes
|range= Temperate regions of North America, introduced populations in Western and northern Europe, Japan, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina and the Falkland Islands
|range-image=File:Branta canadensis map.png
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Seven subspecies |bullets=on
| [[Atlantic Canada goose]] (''B. c. canadensis'') <small>([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]])</small>
| Interior Canada goose (''B. c. interior'') <small>([[Walter Edmond Clyde Todd|Todd]], 1938)</small>
| [[Giant Canada goose]] (''B. c. maxima'') <small>([[Jean Théodore Delacour|Delacour]], 1951)</small>
| [[Moffitt's Canada goose]] (''B. c. moffitti'') <small>([[John Warren Aldrich|Aldrich]], 1946)</small>
| [[Vancouver Canada goose]] (''B. c. fulva'') <small>([[Jean Théodore Delacour|Delacour]], 1951)</small>
| [[Dusky Canada goose]] (''B. c. occidentalis'') <small>([[Spencer Fullerton Baird|Baird]], 1858)</small>
| Lesser Canada goose (''B. c. parvipes'') <small>([[John Cassin|Cassin]], 1852)</small>
}}
}}

{{Species table/row
|name= Barnacle goose|binomial=[[Branta leucopsis]]
|image=File:Barnacle-Goose.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Bechstein|authority-year= 1803 |authority-not-original=yes
|range=  Breeds in Arctic Russia, eastern Greenland and northern Europe; wintering in northern and northwestern Europe.
|range-image=File:Branta leucopsis map.png
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}

{{Species table/row
|name= [[Cackling goose]]|binomial=[[Branta hutchinsii]]
|image=File:016 - CACKLING GOOSE (10-31-06) sloco, ca (8708309130).jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Richardson|authority-year= 1832 |authority-not-original=yes
|range=  North America, northern Canada and Alaska 
|range-image=
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Four or five subspecies |bullets=on
|Richardson's cackling goose (''B. h. hutchinsii'')
|[[Aleutian cackling goose]] (''B. h. leucopareia'')
|[[Small cackling goose]] (''B. h. minima'')
|Taverner's cackling goose (''B. h. taverneri'')
|†[[Aleutian cackling goose|Bering cackling goose]] (''B. h. asiatica'')[disputed]
}}
}}
{{Species table/end}}


Two species have been described from [[subfossil]] remains found in the Hawaiian Islands, where they became [[extinct]] in prehistoric times:
* {{extinct}}[[Nēnē-nui]] or wood-walking goose, ''Branta hylobadistes'' ([[Late Quaternary prehistoric birds|prehistoric]])
:Similar but hitherto undescribed remains are also known from [[Kauaʻi]] and [[Oʻahu]].<ref name=OlsonJames1991>{{cite journal |author=Olson, Storrs L. |author-link=Storrs Olson |author2=James, Helen F. |author2-link=Helen James |year=1991 |title=Descriptions of thirty-two new species of birds from the Hawaiian Islands: Part I. Non-Passeriformes |journal=Ornithological Monographs |volume=45 |issue=45 |page=48 |url=https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/1745 |doi=10.2307/40166794 |jstor=40166794 |hdl=10088/1745 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* {{extinct}}[[Branta rhuax|Giant Hawaii goose]], ''Branta rhuax'' ([[Late Quaternary prehistoric birds|prehistoric]]), formerly ''Geochen rhuax''

The relationships of the enigmatic ''Geochen rhuax'', formerly known only from parts of a single bird's skeleton damaged due to apparently dying in a [[lava]] flow, were long unresolved. After reexamination of the subfossil material and comparisons with other subfossil bones from the island of Hawai{{okina}}i assigned to the genus ''Branta'', it was redescribed as ''[[Branta rhuax]]'' in 2013.<ref name="Olson2013">{{cite journal|last=Olson|first=Storrs L. |date=2013|title=Hawaii's first fossil bird: history, geological age, and taxonomic status of the extinct goose Geochen rhuax Wetmore (Aves: Anatidae).|journal=Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington|publisher=Biological Society of Washington|location=Washington|volume=126|issue=2|pages=161–168|url=http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2988/0006-324X-126.2.161|access-date=13 July 2013|doi=10.2988/0006-324x-126.2.161|s2cid=86807390 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> While a presumed relation between ''B. rhuax'' and the [[shelduck]]s, proposed by Lester Short in 1970,<ref name=Short>{{cite journal|last=Short|first=Lester L.|year=1970|title=A new anseriform genus and species from the Nebraska Pliocene|journal=[[Auk (journal)|Auk]]|volume=87|issue=3|pages= 537–543|url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v087n03/p0537-p0543.pdf |doi=10.2307/4083796|jstor=4083796}}</ref> has thus been refuted, bones of a shelduck-like bird have been found more recently on Kaua‘i.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Burney|first1=D.A.|last2=James|first2=H.F.|last3=Burney|first3=L.P.|last4=Olson|first4=S.L.|last5=Kikuchi|first5=W.|last6=Wagner|first6=W.L.|last7=Burney|first7=W.|last8=McCloskey|first8=D.|last9=Kikuchi|first9=D.|last10=Grady|first10=F.V.|last11=Gage|first11=R.|year=2001|title=Fossil evidence for a diverse biota from Kaua'i and its transformation since human arrival|journal=Ecological Monographs|volume=71|issue=4|pages=615–641|doi=10.1890/0012-9615(2001)071[0615:FEFADB]2.0.CO;2 |bibcode=2001EcoM...71..615B |hdl=10088/109 |url=https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/109}}</ref>

Similarly, two bones found on [[Oʻahu]] indicate the erstwhile presence of a gigantic waterfowl on this island. Its relationships relative to this genus and the [[moa-nalo]]s, enormous goose-like [[dabbling duck]]s, are completely undeterminable at present.<ref name=OlsonJames1991/>

===Early fossil record===
Several [[fossil]] species of ''Branta'' have been described. Since the true geese are hardly distinguishable by [[anatomy|anatomical]] features, the allocation of these to this genus is somewhat uncertain. 
*''Branta woolfendeni'' <small>Bickart 1990</small> (Late Miocene of Arizona, USA)<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bickart|first= K.J.|year=1990|title= Part I: The birds of the late Miocene–early Pliocene Big Sandy Formation, Mohave County, Arizona|journal=Ornithological Monographs|volume=44|issue= 44|pages=1–72 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40166673|doi=10.2307/40166673|jstor= 40166673|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
*''[[Branta thessaliensis]]'' <small>Boev & Koufos, 2006</small> (Late Miocene of Perivolaki, Greece)
*''Branta dickeyi'' <small>Miller 1924</small> (Late Pliocene – Late Pleistocene of W USA)<ref name=Short/><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v026n05/p0178-p0180.pdf|journal=The Condor|volume=26|issue=5|pages=178–180|title=''Branta dickeyi'' from the McKittrick Pleistocene|first=Loye|last=Miller|year= 1924|doi=10.2307/1363171|jstor=1363171}}</ref><ref name=Miller44>{{cite journal|url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v046n01/p0025-p0032.pdf|journal=The Condor|volume=46|issue=1|pages=25–32|first=Loye|last=Miller|title=Some Pliocene Birds from Oregon and Idaho|year=1944|doi=10.2307/1364248|jstor=1364248}}</ref><ref name=Short96>{{cite journal
 | last = Short | first=Lester L.
 | year = 1969
 | title = A new genus and species of gooselike swan from the Pliocene of Nebraska
 | journal = American Museum Novitates
 | volume = 
 | issue = 2369
 | pages =
 | hdl = 2246/2579
 }}</ref>
*''Branta esmeralda'' <small>Burt 1929</small> (Early Pliocene of Nevada, USA)<ref name=Miller44/><ref name=Short96/><ref name=mudflatprints>{{cite journal|year=1934|title=Goose Footprints on a Pliocene Mud-flat|first1=Alden H. |last1=Miller|first2=James F. |last2=Ashley|url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v036n04/p0178-p0179.pdf|journal=The Condor|volume=36|issue=4|pages=178–179|doi=10.2307/1363416|jstor=1363416}}</ref>
*''Branta howardae'' <small>Miller 1930</small> (Early Pliocene of California, USA)<ref name=Short96/><ref name=mudflatprints/><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v033n01/p0030-p0031.pdf|journal=The Condor|volume=33|issue=1|pages=30–31| title=Pliocene Bird Remains from Santa Barbara, California|first=Hildegarde|last= Howard|year=1931|doi=10.2307/1363932|jstor=1363932}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v033n02/p0070-p0072.pdf | doi = 10.2307/1363312|journal=The Condor|volume=33|year=1931|issue=2|pages=70–72|title=Bird Remains from the Kern River Pliocene of California|first=Loye|last= Miller| jstor = 1363312}}</ref>
*''Branta propinqua'' <small>Shufeldt 1892</small> (Middle Pleistocene of [[Fossil Lake (Oregon)|Fossil Lake, Oregon]], USA)<ref name=Short/><ref name=Short96/>
*''Branta hypsibata'' <small>(Cope) 1878</small> (Middle Pleistocene of Fossil Lake, Oregon, USA)<ref name=Short/><ref name=Miller44/><ref name=Short96/>

The former ''"Branta" minuscula'' is now placed with the prehistoric American shelducks, ''[[Anabernicula]]''.<ref name=Short96/> On the other hand, a goose fossil from the Early-Middle Pleistocene of [[El Salvador]] is highly similar to ''Anser'' and given its age and [[biogeography]] it is likely to belong to that genus or ''Branta''.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Cisneros|first= Juan Carlos|year=2005|title= New Pleistocene vertebrate fauna from El Salvador|language=English, Portuguese|journal=Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia|volume=8|issue=3|pages= 239–255|url=http://www.sbpbrasil.org/revista/edicoes/8_3/cisneros.pdf|doi=10.4072/rbp.2005.3.09|bibcode= 2005RvBrP...8..239C|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist|group="note"}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last=Carboneras|first=Carles|year=1992|contribution=Family Anatidae (Ducks, Geese and Swans)|editor=del Hoyo, Josep |editor2=Elliott, Andrew |editor3=Sargatal, Jordi|title=[[Handbook of Birds of the World]]. Volume 1: Ostrich to Ducks|pages=[https://archive.org/details/handbookofbirdso0001unse/page/536 536–629, plates 40–50]|publisher=Lynx Edicions|location=Barcelona|isbn=84-87334-10-5 | ref=none}}

{{Odontoanserae|B.|state=collapsed}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q210416}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Branta| ]]
[[Category:Bird genera]]
[[Category:Geese]]
[[Category:Anatidae]]
[[Category:Extant Miocene first appearances]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli]]