Table 29. 1979 Canada goose nest fate, 



Fate 



No. 

 Nests 



Percent 

 Total 



Percent 

 Known Fate 



Hatched 



Deserted 



Destroyed 



Subtotal 

 Washed out 

 Unknown 



101 



10 



7 



118 



5 



29 

 152 



66.5 

 6.6 

 4.6 



77.7 



3. 3 



19.1 



85.6 

 8.5 

 5.9 



Table 30. Canada goose nest fate for known fate nests, 

 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979. 



Fate 



1976 



Percent 

 1977 1978 



1979 



Hatched 



Deserted 



Destroyed 



66.6 

 29.6 



3.7 



86.5 84.0 

 7.3 7.0 

 6.1 8.0 



15.6 

 8.5 

 5.9 



nests destroyed ranged from 3.7 percent in 1976 to 8 percent in 

 1978. This consistently high nesting success for the last 3 

 years would place this population among the most successful wild 

 breeding populations in North America. It would indicate the 

 high security level this population now enjoys. 



Egg success (Table 31) for known-fate nests was 94 percent 

 in 1979, compared to 86 percent in 1978 and 95.2 percent in 1977. 

 Egg fertility was 95 percent which was similar to 1978. Infer- 

 tility accounted for 5 percent of the eggs and dead embryos only 

 1 percent. Dead embryos that were found either succijmbed during 

 the first or last week of incubation. 



Table 32 presents the frequency distribution of clutch sizes 

 for 1979. There was an average of 5.9 eggs per clutch, with 82 

 percent of the clutches having between 5 and 7 eggs. These figures 

 compare to 5.9 and 83 percent in 1977, and 5.6 and 71 percent in 

 1978. The smallest successful nest contained 1 egg and the lar- 

 gest 13 eggs over the last 4 years. 



74 



