DISTRIBUTION OF RECOVERIES FROM BANDINGS OF DUCKLINGS 
This is the second progress report on the cooperative program to 
band ducklings on the waterfowl breeding grounds. The first was pre¬ 
pared in 1957 by Seth Low (Waterfowl Banding in the Canadian Prairie 
Provinces, Special Scientific Report--Wildlife No* 36). 
Flyway management of migratory waterfowl in the United States 
was initiated in 1947. Research to develop methods of conducting 
breeding ground surveys was begun in the same year. Aerial censuses 
of the breeding population were operational by 1951, but it became 
evident that the data were difficult to use for forecasting changes 
in fall flights in the flyways. The primary problem was lack of 
knowledge about the relation between population changes in various 
units of the breeding range and the harvest of birds in each of the 
flywaySo 
Banding was the obvious solution, but decisions had to be made 
about the type of birds to be banded. The choices included molters, 
flying young and adults caught immediately before the shooting season, 
and "locals" (immature birds not old enough to fly)o Since both molters 
and flying birds move in late summer into concentration areas from 
unknown distances and directions, it was concluded they might not be 
representative of the populations recorded within specific breeding 
areas by the aerial survey crews. On the other hand, it was obvious 
that young birds before reaching flying age were definitely associated 
with these areas. Therefore, an expanded banding program was initiated 
in 1954 with emphasis on the banding of "locals." 
Since the first progress report was prepared in 1957, portions 
of the program have been essentially completed. This is true for 
mallards in the southern parts of the Prairie Provinces. However, 
much mallard banding remains to be done, particularly in northern 
Canada and in the United States. Owing to the varying degree of 
completion of the program by species and area, this report is in 
two parts. The first part presents the distribution of direct (first 
hunting season) recoveries of the 10 duck species banded as locals 
that are most important to hunters. This part has been organized to 
show the relation between the aerial breeding ground survey strata 
and the flyway of recovery, and between the State or Province of 
banding and the State or Province and flyway of recovery. 
The second part, by reason of the greater number and better 
distribution of the mallard locals that have been banded, discusses 
in more detail the recoveries from these bandings. The data presented 
include both first season recoveries (direct) and those from subsequent 
years (indirect). Also, in this part neither aerial survey strata 
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