the afternoon of November 2, they commenced to leave 

 Big Spirit Lake, where they had rested during the day- 

 light hours. From 4:30 P.M. until dark, hundreds of 

 flocks of lesser scaups and ring-necked ducks departed 

 on a front only 1,000 yards wide from west to east. 



Harry T. Maltby reported that, on November 2, 

 10,000 mallards and 3,500 canvasbacks and redheads 

 plus 2,000 miscellaneous ducks were found resting on 

 the Missouri River between Sioux City, Iowa, and the 

 Missouri line, apparently having arrived the night of 

 .November 1-2. Maltby provided the following figures for 

 ducks which alighted on November 2 at lakes in the 

 northwestern and western parts of the state: Round 

 Lake, 3,000 mallards; Storm Lake, 5,000 mallards; 

 Rush Lake, 2,000 mallards; Silver Lake, 750 mallards; 

 and Blackhawk Lake, 3,000 mallards. 



Robert E. Cleary, on the banks of the Wapsipinicon 

 River, near Independence, at daybreak on November 2, 

 noted ducks flying to the southeast down the valley in 

 a steady stream; the flight continued until late after- 

 noon. Between 6:30 and 8:30 A.M., divers of all 

 species, even ruddy ducks (Oxyura jamaicensis), oc- 

 curred in the flight. After 8:30 A.M., mallards pre- 

 dominated in the flight; they were followed in order of 

 numbers by pintails, green-winged teals (Anas caro- 

 linensis), shovelers (Spatula clypeata), gadwalls, and 

 widgeons. For the most part, flocks averaged about 100 

 birds each, all flying at altitudes of several hundred 

 feet. 



Near Eddyville on the Des Moines River, M. E. 

 Stempel observed 66 flocks, aggregating 7,000 ducks, 

 between 6:30 and 10:00 A.M. A flock of 10 to 500 ducks 

 passed by every 3 minutes during this period. After- 

 wards the flight diminished and an increasing overcast 

 reduced visibility; only three large flocks were ob- 

 served from 10:00 A.M. to 12:00 noon. Between 6:30 

 and 7:40 A.M., about half of the flocks consisted of 

 divers and the other half of mallards. Later, practically 

 all the flocks were made up of mallards. Most of these 

 ducks were flying straight south toward the Chariton 

 River valley. 



Illinois.— In Illinois, the prelude to the 1955 mass 

 migration of waterfowl occurred on November 1, when 

 ducks appeared in the middle reach of the Mississippi 

 River. We first became aware of this movement at 10:00 

 A.M. while aviating up the Mississippi River from 

 Grafton toward Quincy. From the plane, we saw 20 

 flocks of mallards flying south at an altitude of 500 

 feet. Fidward A. Davis told us that, on November 1, 

 2,000 flocks passed down the Mississippi River at 

 Batchtown, Illinois, most of them at altitudes over 

 1,000 feet. Most of the flocks, made up of mallards, 

 numbered 25 to .50 birds each, but some contained as 

 many as 100 to 200 birds. 



By the morning of November 2, it was evident that 

 a tremendous migration of waterfowl was underway in 

 the state. At daybreak, many observers saw a steady 

 stream of ducks, most of them mallards, arriving in the 

 Illinois River valley from the north, northwest, and, 

 occasionally, from the southwest or east. Up and down 

 the valley, throughout the day, the flight continued. 

 Hunters had a "field day" as newly arrived mallards 

 decoyed to almost any kind of call. 



At 8:00 A.M., we saw large flocks of mallards 

 wheeling into the Illinois River valley above Havana. 

 Within the next hour, 40 flocks numbering 50 to 100 

 mallards each were noted flying toward the valley from 

 the east. Twenty miles below Havana, a continuous, 

 almost unbroken stream of mallards passed down the 

 valley throughout the day. Most of the flocks were 

 following the valley, which angles in a southwest 

 direction, but some were leaving the valley to fly 

 directly south over the prairie farm lands. Although the 

 bulk of the ducks appeared to be passing through non- 

 stop, flocks now and then became detached from the 

 passing throng to alight on the lakes and marshes of 

 the Illinois River valley. By nightfall, local duck popu- 

 lations had tripled or quadrupled. The populations were 

 at a peak for only a short time, however. Either many of 

 the recently arrived ducks remained for only a few hours 

 of rest before continuing south, or many of the ducks 

 which had been present at the time the mass flight 

 reached the valley resumed their migration during the 

 night. For example, at Crane Lake, near Bath, the duck 

 population dropped from 120,000 the evening of Novem- 

 ber 2 to 85,000 by the following morning. 



Ducks migrated into the upper Illinois River valley 

 all through November 2. At 2:00 P.M., east of Morris, 

 Marshall L. Stinnett noticed 25,000 mallards dropping 

 into the valley from the northwest. As he proceeded 

 west by car to Bureau, on a highway paralleling the riv- 

 er valley, he observed flocks of mallards continually ar- 

 riving from the northwest. South of Bureau, the mi- 

 gration of waterfowl was still greater, and, late in the 

 afternoon, Stinnett estimated that 150,000 ducks 

 dropped into the bottomland lakes of the Illinois River 

 between Bureau and Henry. 



Indiana. "Dale N. Martin, making aerial flights over 



Indiana on October 31 and November 1 and 2, saw no 

 indication of a mass waterfowl migration until early on 



the morning of November 2. Throughout the rest of the 

 day, he observed ducks arriving at the Willow Slough 

 Game Preserve from the northwest and north. The 

 principal migrants were mallards, but considerable num- 

 bers of black ducks, gadwalls, green-winged teals, red> 

 heads, canvasbacks, scaups, and ring-necked ducks 

 also arrived. Coots departed from Willow Slough the 

 night of November 3. 



P 



