In "both of these States. .... - •• ■.•■ ■- 



.Among the States of -the- Atlpntic coast the ^nnerpl situf'tion wr'S ujisptisfactor,y 

 and onlj ? fey recorci^.d. good shootini?:. As so froauf^ntly happens the mi^mnt >)irds 

 of the northeastern flight did not travel far to the' south so that most of thn 

 shooti,ng l)etween Long Island Sound and Dela.ware Bay was at locally "bred Mrds. Be-^ 

 ca.use the large flights from interior "breeding grounds reach the Atlantic coast in • 

 the vicinity of Chesapeake Bay, Maryland had good shooting. South of that State, 

 however, no heavy flight was observed and shooting was generally \insatisfactory in 

 coastal. Virginia, the Carolinas, G-eorgia, and Florida. An exception v/as recorded 

 for Canada Geese which exhi^bited a definite increase and provided good sport at a 

 fevj favored areas. 



A total of ^21 reports v;ere receix'ed from the Service corps of migration o"b- 

 servers. In commenting on the status of waterfowl in general, ..the percentage of 

 those reporting incrf^ase fell -off tv;o points as compared with l^U"? figures, "but 

 this was ahsorhed in the "no change" classificationf Also, in , this same compari- 

 son, .losses in th'^ "increase" percentages were recorded for many importa.nt game 

 species. , These deficiencies v^ere not large in any instance and v/ere readily ac- 

 counted for iDy the erratic nature of the migration which, in effect, "by-passed 

 heretofore important areas. • 



• ^Jy^tering-^Ground Survey 



.Winter operations were again confined to the United States, a regretta-ljle 

 necessity, since' there was evidence of pti exceptionally heavy flirht that procpded 

 into Mexico, and possilily also to certain little-known- Ca.rrihea.n, areas. For ex- 

 ample, t,he "biologist of the Central Flyway, stationed at Brov/nsville, Texas, re- 

 ported an increase of 20 percent in the num"ber of Pintails, that passed on to the 

 east, coast of Mexico,- v/hile the- "biologist of the Pacific Tl^rvm.y similarly cited 

 reports of heavy flights into the western part of that countrv. A volimteer o'b- 

 server reporting from St. Peters"burg, Florida, stated that on January ^1 v;hile 

 crossing Tampa Ba.y in a' motor cruiser, a flight of 1^;,000 to ^0 ,000 ducks v;as o"b- 

 served flying low over the v;ater toward ti^.s horthv;est. These "birds may have come 

 from the southern part of the Everglades, or frorti' some, point in the West Inrfies. 



' The Biologists- of all four flyways v,'ere actively engaged in, checking concen- ■ 

 tration areas in their respective .regions v;hile personnel in the Washington office 

 gave much attention to the analysis of the reports received from various soxirces. 

 The manager of the Back Bay (Va.) National Wildlife Refixge reported the Snov^ Goose 

 in a healthy condition. Sample counts indicated a ra.tio of a"bout three immpturf^s 

 to ev^ry adult. A study of reports of the recovery of "banded ducks indicated that, 

 despite the erratic nature of the migratory flight, the actual IPUU take "by hunters 

 may ha.ve "been larger than in l.'^U'^. During the IQUU season 222 mo.re reports of 

 "banded ducks were received than in 19^3. It is interesting to note .that of the 

 more than 3700 records of "banded waterfowl received (during the 'season o'nly 6l were 

 for the Lesser Scaup or "Blackhead/' Actually, more. returns were received for the 

 "Redhead than for this species although a smaller num"ber of Rec^Jieads had "been handed. 

 Nevertheless, in Core Sound, F. C. the Lesser Scaup was reported as more plentiful 

 than the marsh ducks. 



