Good general rains did not occur, but lo¬ 
cal rains maintained water levels in the 
central Sandhills. 
Breeding population indexes 
The waterfowl index for the Sandhills 
was up 16.6 percent from last year and 
9. 7 percent above the average of the pre¬ 
vious 5 years. The calculated breeding 
population for the Sandhills was 124, 809 
ducks of all species. 
Most notable changes in the species 
composition of the breeding population 
was a 55 percent decrease in blue-winged 
teal and an 83 percent decrease in gad- 
wall. Mallards and pintails showed in¬ 
creases of 78 percent and 84 percent re¬ 
spectively. Shovelers remained about 
the same as last year. Scaup, redheads, 
and canvasbacks showed substantial in¬ 
creases, while ruddy ducks declined from 
5, 300 to 880. (Table B-37). 
Production indexes 
A total of 75 broods were observed on 
the July aerial survey. Good counts were 
obtained on 63 broods with a total of 295 
ducklings. The total number of broods 
sighted was down 30. 0 percent from the 
1963 figure, and the number of ducklings 
was down 44. 2 percent. Ground route 
indexes indicate broods down 48 percent 
and ducklings down 49 percent. The num¬ 
ber of ducklings per brood from the aerial 
counts was 4.68, a decrease of 1. 20 from 
1963, while the average brood size from 
ground routes indicates a drop from 5.42 
to 5.31. (Table B-38.) 
The hatch appeared to be as much as 
2 weeks later than last year. New broods 
were still appearing during the third week 
of July. According to the aerial surveys, 
5.8 percent of the ducklings sighted were 
class I, 38.6 percent were class n, and 
55.6 percent were class in (table B-39). 
WYOMING 
Data supplied by George F. Wrakestraw 
Wyoming Game and Fish Commission 
Weather and habitat conditions 
Range and water conditions at the start 
of the spring migration were good over 
most of the State. During May and early 
June great amounts of moisture fell over 
most of the State, maintaining extremely 
good water conditions. The number of 
water areas in the production sections of 
the State remained nearly constant through 
July. 
Breeding population indexes 
The estimated breeding pair population 
for 1964 decreased 6 percent from 1963 
but increased 20. 5 percent over the long¬ 
term average. 
Production indexes 
The total number of birds counted in 
1964 was 301, 705, 1 percent above 1963 
and 28. 8 percent above the 8-year aver¬ 
age (table B-40). 
Canada geese decreased 2 percent 
from 1963 but were 53 percent above the 
long-term average. 
Goose production surveys on Bear 
River, Snake River, and Ocean Lake in¬ 
dicate an extremely successful year 
(table B-41). 
COLORADO 
Data supplied by William H. Rutherford 
Colorado Game, Fish and Parks 
Commission 
Weather and habitat conditions 
Weather conditions in Colorado during 
the spring and early summer were con¬ 
sidered good to excellent for waterfowl 
nesting and production. The phenology 
of the season was retarded, so that nest¬ 
ing was not started as early as usual, but 
weather was not an adverse factor. Water 
conditions were somewhat better than 
those of last year, but still only fair. 
Early spring precipitation vastly improved 
15 
