The 1964 waterfowl hunting regulations 
were developed from four broad, closely 
related categories of information as here¬ 
in reported. The groups of data are or¬ 
ganized by flyways, from Pacific to Atlan¬ 
tic, with appendixes of tables to correspond. 
Credit has been given to each individ¬ 
ual or organization that submitted a re- 
WATERFOWL 
STATUS REPORT 
1964 
port. Although many of the narrative 
statements have been briefed, and a few 
tables deleted or shortened if they con¬ 
tained data submitted previously or in 
another form, the essential informa¬ 
tion from each report has been retained 
to the greatest extent possible. 
WINTER SURVEY 
Data supplied by J. D. Smith 
Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife 
The annual winter survey covered all 
major wintering areas of the United States 
and Mexico. In Mexico the Bureau of 
Sport Fisheries and Wildlife organized and 
conducted the survey. In the contiguous 
United States, the Bureau organized the 
survey, but much of the field work was 
done by personnel of State conservation 
departments. The U. S. Department of 
Defense and the U. S. Coast Guard sup¬ 
plied aircraft for aerial counts in many 
areas. 
The objectives of the annual winter sur¬ 
vey are primarily to determine the dis¬ 
tribution of waterfowl on the wintering 
grounds and to detect gross changes in the 
condition of winter habitat as measured 
by the comparative utilization of that 
habitat by waterfowl. 
Only for a few species such as the 
swans, geese, redheads, canvasbacks, 
and black ducks are the winter survey 
results used to help measure annual 
population status. The status for most 
waterfowl is determined from spring and 
summer surveys on the nesting grounds; 
those surveys provide the best informa¬ 
tion for the setting of annual hunting 
regulations. 
The winter survey is not an accurate 
measure of annual waterfowl population 
changes because there are differences 
Approved for publication October 1963. Special Scientific Report — Wildlife No. 86. 
1 
