productive than in 1964 which was a poor 
year in that region. Likewise, the 
Melita-Virdan-Elkhorn habitat block is 
apparently poor this year. At Redvers, 
Saskatchewan, a Bureau of Sport Fish¬ 
eries and Wildlife study area which held 
170 breeding pairs this past spring pro¬ 
duced only 22 broods (plus some 5 or 6 
"indicated” pairs that would probably re¬ 
present potential late nests). 
In the eastern part of the Minnedosa 
Hills the efforts of most species appear 
to have met with poor success. Popu¬ 
lation of broods on the Rivers chronology 
census strip have run consistently 60 to 
70 percent below those of last year. The 
canvasback and redhead have experienced 
about average nesting success, though 
few broods of even these species can be 
found. 
The previously hoped-for surge of 
late-hatched broods did not materialize, 
though some broods have still to hatch. 
Those late broods, however, will not 
compensate for the reduced number of 
broods observed to date. 
ALBERTA 
Data supplied by Fred Sharp 
Ducks Unlimited, Canada 
Weather and habitat conditions 
The observers all stressed the fact 
that although many of the water areas are 
quite temporary there was a good inter- 
spersion of brood sloughs which would 
last all season and drought losses should 
be minimal. Seepage will be heavy this 
year after the long drought but slough 
bottoms will be conditioned for minimum 
loss to this source for the 1966 season. 
Breeding population indexes 
In the area covered on the Ducks Un¬ 
limited transects, the number of breed¬ 
ing pairs increased 11 percent from 1964 
which is 20 percent below the 10-year 
average, 1951 to 1960. 
Substantial gains in the number of 
water bodies on the southern prairies 
this year resulted in greatly increased 
numbers of breeding pintails, 84 percent 
in the Strathmore area and 226 percent 
in the area based on Brooks. Province¬ 
wide, the pintail breeding population in¬ 
creased 105 percent. Mallards also 
increased on the southern prairies in re¬ 
sponse to good water conditions but these 
increases were more than offset by de¬ 
creases on the northern transects. As 
a result, the number of mallard pairs 
counted was slightly below 1964 0 
The northern transects showed an over¬ 
all reduction in breeding pairs of 16 per¬ 
cent, although the number of water areas 
increased by 70 percent. Most minor 
species were somewhat less numerous 
than in 1964. Corresponding increases in 
most species were recorded for the south¬ 
ern transects (table B-65). 
On the Lac la Biche transect, a sup¬ 
plementary run not included in the general 
summary, the number of water bodies 
doubled. However, the number of breed¬ 
ing pairs remained unchanged from 1964 
although the species composition'was quite 
different. The Peace River-Grande 
Prairie area, also a supplementary run, 
showed a 25 percent reduction in breeding 
pairs but the number of water bodies was 
unchanged. 
Production indexes 
The specialized brood counts were 
carried out in mid-July on Ducks Un¬ 
limited projects in the Strathmore, 
Brooks, Hanna, and Peace River area. 
Results of the brood counts were quite 
gratifying. In all areas the counts proved 
higher than anticipated. Heavy emergent 
and upland growth made brood counts 
difficult. 
The mallard production in the extreme 
south was poor. In the central areas 
good; in the Edmonton area only fair; in 
the Peace River area very good. The 
forecast for a duck flight this fall is 
equally as good as that of 1964 from 
Alberta. 
28 
