and 29 percent above the 12-year average. 
As a result, pond counts for strata A and 
B combined are up 10 percent over 1964 
and 26 percent over the long-term aver¬ 
age. Water conditions are good in 
southern Manitoba and should be adequate 
for such production as occurs in the sur¬ 
vey area (table B-52). 
Breeding population indexes 
Breeding duck numbers continue low 
in southern Manitoba. The 1965 index is 
nearly identical to that of 1964 and is 27 
percent below the average of the previous 
12 years. Only in 1953 and 1962 was the 
index for southern Manitoba lower than 
that of the last 2 years. 
The dabbling duck index is 6 percent 
below that of 1964 and 41 percent below 
the 12-year average. Of major concern 
is the continued decline in the mallard 
population. The 1965 mallard index is 
12 percent lower than that of 1964 and 50 
percent below the 12-year average. The 
mallard breeding pair index in southern 
Manitoba was about a half million birds 
from 1956 to 1958. The 1965 index is 
only 147, 000. 
The index for the important blue- 
winged teal is 14 percent lower than that 
of 1964 and 56 percent below the 12-year 
average. The pintail index increased 23 
percent over 1964 but remains 31 per¬ 
cent below the long-term average. The 
surveys indicate an increase in baldpate 
while shoveler and gadwall numbers de¬ 
clined. 
The diving duck index again increased 
and is now 12 percent higher than that of 
1964 and 22 percent higher than the 12- 
year average. Redheads increased 42 
percent and this year T s figure is 111 per¬ 
cent above the 12-year average. Canvas- 
backs showed a modest gain and are now 
30 percent above the average. The reasons 
for the continued increase in diving duck 
indexes while dabbling duck numbers de¬ 
cline is not known. The scaup index 
showed a decline of 7 percent from the 
1964 level, but this species was difficult 
to work in 1965. Because of the late 
season, many transient scaup were in 
the area during the period of survey and 
we attempt to exclude these from the 
records. It is often an arbitrary de¬ 
cision and this alone could account for 
the apparent decline. 
Coot numbers showed a substantial 
decrease in 1965. The index was down 
35 percent from 1964 and 35 percent 
from the 12-year average. The major 
decline occurred in stratum A where 1965 
numbers were less than half those of 
1964 (table B-53). 
The 1965 lone drake figure of 74. 8 per¬ 
cent is lower than that of 1964 and sup¬ 
ports the view that the 1965 nesting sea¬ 
son was later than normal. Additional 
evidence of a late season was the absence 
of early broods on the transects this 
May. Each year a few broods are re¬ 
corded by the end of the third week or 
beginning of the fourth week of May, but 
no broods had been seen this year when 
surveys ended on May 28. 
Production indexes 
The 1965 duck brood index for strata 
A and B, southern Manitoba, was 14 per¬ 
cent below the 1964 index and 36 percent 
below the average of the previous 11 
years. This year’s coot brood index for 
the survey area was 23 percent above 
that of 1964 and 105 percent above the 
11-year average. 
The duck brood count in stratum A 
this year was very low and was 64 per¬ 
cent below that of 1964. The average 
duck brood size was 5.2 in 1965 com¬ 
pared to the 5.4 recorded in 1964. This 
year’s coot brood index declined also 
and was 46 percent below that of 1964. 
The hatch was about two weeks late this 
year. Because of this very late hatch 
it was decided to rerun several transects 
to compare data from early versus late 
coverage. Five transects in stratum A 
were rerun on July 25. The initial 
coverage provided 17 broods, the rerun 
36 broods—a substantial increase. 
Thirteen of the 36 broods were found on 
one transect which had yielded none on 
23 
