WATERFOWL teoul fe OT PUL oe oi) UASRLAGTON = 
4 

Beary A. Hane 3a 
wQuAnld 3, Gal vreath 
Charles F, Yocom 
The waterfowl inventory of Eastern Washington thia past summer wae A 
continustion and enlargement of the baaic etudies made during 1947 and 1948. 
The ground surreya were made by H. &. Hansen, D. &. Galbreath and ¢. F, Tooon, 
Moat of the areas inventoried the previsus two summers were covered agmin fer 
comparative information. In addition, many new areas were hastily aought out 
and purveyed by airplane prior ta inventories made from the ground. Through 
thie wider coverage, meager 4&3 1t necessarily wae, & more representative mtio 
of resident waterfowl for certain areas may hare been cbtalned. All the 
waterfowl counts tabulated in the following tablea were made between May ao 
and August 11, exeent for the inclusion of a few early mallard broode. 
Surface water conditions ysried greatly during the past two qummeras, 
With an abundance of rain during most of the summer in 1948, the lakee, 
potholes, end atreams of emstern Weghington maintained an abnormally high 
water levre] through the segeon. This was followed during the winter by a 
record snowfell which melted gradually enough to fill every arailable depree- 
tion throughout the scabland with water. Tims, the *eterfowl neating sengon 
of 1349 wae begun in eastern Washington under very favorable phyaical condi- 
tione, and a rather high density of breading paire of waterfowl per unit area 
of habitet remained in the State following the apring migration. While the 
abaence of rain throughout the spring and summer months apparently created 
faroreble meeting and hatching conditions, al11 of the temporary run«off ponde 
and moet cf the emaller potholes became dry before the firet of Auguet. Enough 
remanent water was left dispersed among the drying ponds, howerer, for the 
immature ducke to more wlth relative safety to large bodies of whiter. We feel 
that rery little jurentle martellty waa encountered during thle morement from 
one boay of water to another. For the most part, & great many broode of 
Millerde ard pintsile were on the wing before the firet cf July. In feneral, 
the entire nesting and reering semson appeared to be advanced about two weeke 
phead of that in 1L94#. 
Five evrvey flighte which tetaled more than 11 houre of flying time 
were made over most cf the waterfowl hatltat areas at various times during 
the cummer by Mr. Haneen. While aerial surveys are very useful in some 
Ingtancer, oresent data indicate that they are not feasible in pastern 
Wachineton to conéuct a eummer waterfowl inventory or to identify species 
from the air. The reugh ecabland terrain and ite attendant thernale renders 
the use of field glaseee alroet imroseible from the low altitude necessary to 
fdentify dacks and count territorial pairs or mAlee. The expense of airplane 
rental eeeme justifiable, however, for #ross-mapping water areas, locating 
reads into areae diffleult to reach from the ground, and eearching out new 
hebitat for ground surrey. 
Table 1 lists the identified broode of ducke observed in mastern 
Washington for 1947, 1948 and 1949. Kenneth Gehiman, a graduate student at 
Washington State College, gaye ue the date on broods preduced at Weat Medtcel 
Lake; Al Ganaric, Student Aesistant at the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, 
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