Aerial survey for Black Brant at Izembek Lagoon, Alaska

Example of a photo from the USFWS fall aerial survey for geese at Izembek Lagoon. Inset shows a closer view of four Black Brant (bottom) with a Cackling Goose (top) foraging on eelgrass. Scientists from the USGS Alaska Science Center and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Migratory Bird Management tested an aerial photographic survey design to improve repeatability, transparency, and estimation of variance for annual population estimates of Pacific brant and cackling geese staging at Izembek Lagoon, Alaska, in 2017-2019. The photo survey provided considerably higher estimates of total population size than the traditional ocular survey, and represented a robust, defensible survey framework.