Table 6.7 
No, of Na, of Nests Eges Tuf4rt. gests 



Speciesa Neate pees hatched hatched Bird Mammals Unknoym Success 
Mallard 20 152 Ls oo) ih a z 2 "AD 
Pintail 10 +, 6 39 6 - 2 Zz 60 
Shovel sr 5 32 4 19 4 1 - - BO 
Geadweall 4 36 3 at 2 - - 1 re 
Rew, teal 3 27 3 26 1 ~ - - 190 
_G=m% teal 6 54 6 54 = e 2 J Loo 
Canvasback 2 16 2 14 2 - - - 100 
Redhead 1 - 1 6 a) = = - 100 
Re .aogck 1 9 1 9 ~ ~ - - Loo 
Scaup 1 10 1 8 2 z - = 100 
Bufflshosad & rit! a 18 w - - = 160 
Can. Goose 7 16 4 “16 ~ = - - 100 
Coot** 14 go 13 90(e) (2) = = a BG 
*Date includas nest histories reported by Northern Forest District Rangere. 
**Recauas of the structure and position of most of ths coot nests it was not 
poesible to tell in many instances whether ot not thors wars any infertils segs, 
as wave action often disturbed nests in 4 manner that left interprstation of 
hatehing success in doubt, 
Ths number of nest historits involvsd in Table 6 is far tao few to draw 
any conclusions as to usst pradation or general osst success by speciss. Howerer, 
by lumping all species of ducks together, 43 of the 55 nests (7H percent hatch] 
hatched successfully, This is still much too small a figure to draw any canclu- 
sicns ag to gensreal hatching sucesss in Albsarta this year. 
Total counts of all ducks spacies observed show an averags brood size of 
6.4 (6.6 in 1947, 6.4 in 1948). Ths average size of all Class I broods in ths 
sarly portion of tha s¢ason {from May 1 to Jima 15} was 6.3; from Juns 15 to the 
snd of the season, Class I broods averaged 4.9, an indication of the larger sizs 
of the later hatchesa. Class II troods avarsaged 5.7 sarly in ths season, 5.6 later. 
Class IIT broods tend to congregate in larger breod flocks and are more difficult 
to segregata as individual broods. Thus the lesser number of broois of Class TIT 
size make them hardly comparable to those observed at earlisr ages. Naverthsless, 
Class III broods did average 6.4 (May 1 ta Tune 15) and 4.8 {June 15 to August 15) 
respectively. 
Predation, hail, drought, and dissass playsd a comparatively small part 
during the 1949 waterfowl breading geason. Hail storms were seldom recorded snd 
when they did occur they affsctod very small areas. Drought, though of tremendous 
evar-all affect for ths season, had slight effects ones the birds had arrived, 
for the deamags had already been domes, Aftar ning ronthsa of drought, birds return- 
ing this epring to selsct breeding areas ware forced by circumstances to choses 
permanent water areas where drought would haya little immediats affect durine 
the incubation end rearing pariod. 
No svidencs was found to indicats any sxeessirs oredation by crows, gulls, 
Mappies, skunks, or coyotes, though examples of sach ware noted, 
By August 15 botulism had basn neted in only tuo areas, San Francises Lake 
and Big Say Lake. In both esses, the outoresak was af lesser importancs at ths 
time of observations wers made. 
45 
