Birds watchers often keep a " life list".. A list of birds that they have seen. I added Brant to it decades ago but in all my years of bird watching I never saw them without a spotting scoop. They winter off the CT Coastline and are very shy. I've never seen them except as a distant set black blobs bobbing.... So though not a lifer for me, they are a special treat I did not at all anticipate seeing like this...
IMGP8879 by Al Sabetta, on Flickr
IMGP8940 by Al Sabetta, on Flickr
IMGP8928 by Al Sabetta, on Flickr
IMGP8916 by Al Sabetta, on Flickr
IMGP0378 by Al Sabetta, on Flickr
IMGP0373 by Al Sabetta, on Flickr
One of those times I am glad I am both a bird watcher and photographer. It rarely gets better than this.
al