Weather and habitat conditions 
The Saskatchewan prairies this spring 
had a variety of water conditions, from 
excellent in stratum A-East to very poor 
in stratum C. The prairies were gener¬ 
ally very dry in the fall of 1963. The 
winter snowfall was near normal but did 
not bring water in the ponds up to their 
normal levels. Rainfall from April 1 to 
May 25, 1964, was up 0. 6 of an inch from 
normal. This put water in a number of 
depressions but still at a very shallow 
depth. 
The May pond indexes in 1964 for 
strata A-West, B-West, and C were be¬ 
low those of 1963. Strata A-East and B- 
East were up, with A-East showing an 
increase of 112.2 percent. The total 
pond index this May was 1,188, 700 com¬ 
pared with 960, 400 in 1963, an increase 
of 23. 8 percent. This increase was due 
mainly to the major improvement in A- 
East. At the outset this looks good, but 
the water was universally poor in quality 
except in A-East. In most areas the 
ponds had only a few inches to a foot of 
water. Most of them were still 1 to 3 
feet below their normal levels. Water 
conditions in eastern Saskatchewan should 
hold up relatively well throughout the pro¬ 
duction season, but most of the other 
areas will have to be supplied with ade¬ 
quate summer rains. The Coteau, north 
and east of Johnstone Lake, was the poor¬ 
est we have seen. 
Temperatures from mid-April to May 
25 averaged 3° to 5° above normal and 
broke some all-time high records. Regina 
had 94° as its highest reading. From 
May 1-25 the wind averaged 18.4 miles 
per hour each day. Spring was a week to 
10 days ahead of normal. The warm 
weather produced early emergent vegeta¬ 
tion and leafing of trees and shrubs. By 
mid-May, vegetation in the parkland 
areas was well-leafed. 
Habitat and weather conditions for 
nesting were good. The early growth of 
pond vegetation in addition to emergent 
plants from last year afforded adequate 
cover. Practically no burning was noted, 
and there appeared to be little seeding of 
stubble. The soil moisture for seeding 
of grain was adequate. However, after 
the unusually warm spring and high winds, 
forecasts for agricultural crop moisture 
needs indicated a necessity for rains to 
insure crop success. This may have dis¬ 
couraged stubble seeding to some degree. 
Drying trends continued through early 
July except for scattered rains generally 
in the east and central parts of the Prov¬ 
ince. Overall, the water loss from May 
to June was 63 percent. The July pond 
index for 1964 (439, 500) was the third 
lowest on record, down 36. 2 percent from 
1963 (689,100) and down 68.1 percent 
from the 1952-63 average (table B-26). 
In parts of A and B-West, the number of 
dugouts and stock dams exceeded the 
number of natural water areas in July. 
Breeding population indexes 
The total duck population index stood 
at 1, 681, 200 birds this year compared 
with 1, 539, 300 last year, with an average 
of 3,427, 900 for 1956 to 1963. Dabblers 
and divers showed increases over last 
year of 7. 9 and 21.5 percent, respec¬ 
tively, down 49. 7 and 60.1 percent from 
the averages. The coot population in¬ 
creased 64. 9 percent over last year, but 
they are still 76 percent below the aver¬ 
age (table B-27). 
The lone drake index of 83. 5 percent 
agrees with all other indicators of an 
early season. The percentage figure for 
this year is the second highest on record 
(table B-28). 
Production indexes 
The 1964 duck brood index was up 46 
percent from the low of 1963 but still re¬ 
mained 71 percent below the average, 
and the third lowest on record. Data 
from both the aerial and ground observa¬ 
tions indicate poor success from early 
nesting efforts in the south part of the 
Province. As indicated by age classes 
in observed broods, early nesting success 
improved as we moved northward in the 
survey area. Average brood size from 
class II and HI broods was 5. 7 as 
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