No apsciss showed an increase from 1948, tut golden-syes and beiu ts 
dscraassd very Slightly, It is balieved that this ia dus te the fact that both 
of these spsciss profsr the larger, more open bodies of water for brooding areas 
and so wers picked up on the 1949 ecsnsus, whereas the mallards stayed back in 
tha flooded meadows, swamps, potholes and other temporary areas. Species com- 
position data follows: 
Averages (1937 - 47) 1948 1949 
Mallard 45 52 4b 
Baldpats 9 hg endy 
Golden-sys 15 13 19 
Blus-wingesd teal 18 10 6 
Ring-necked duck B 5 4 
All Gthers 5 3 3 
Nots that the baldpats has moyed from fourth to sacond place during the 
past two years. Had water-Lavels heen normal no doubt ths baldpate would hava 
conftinusd to show an in¢rsass which it has dens every ysar since 1938. 
The mallard decraassd 45 percent from 1948 but it 18 certain that many 
broods of this species wars missed on the 1949 census, 
Brood avsragss are somewhat out of Lins dus to a paucity of data. 
Class f Class ITI Clases III All Ags Clasass 
Mallard 4,8 (6) 6.8 (10) 4.7 (15) 6.4 (31) 
Bsldpats 6.7 {10) 6.0 £ 3} -- 6.5 {13] 
The 46.7 ducklings per brood in tha mallard Claas JIZI is not far off from 
the all-tims averaga of 7.9 for this area, Dus te the high water many of tha 
broods s¢9n ascapsd te cover before accurats counts could be made and in many 
casss only the maternal hens were sean, This accounts for the very small 
humber of broods aeen, 
Adult-juysnils ratios ars also unreliable for reasons explained aborts, 
A larg: number of taldpate adults were observed on the Third River srea which 
wera predominantly males but also included quite a few females, Their presence 
in this arsa could indicate a gathering of moulting birds but some must hays 
heen unsucesesful females, or non-breeders. A few mallard juveniles were flying 
by the times ths consus was taken but not more than the normal numbers. 
In conclusion, it suffices to say that the 1949 Chippewa Waterfowl census 
ylelded 33 parcsnt less ducks than in 1948. However, high water levels made an 
acturate cansus impossible and it is felt that there was littls, if any, decreass 
in the 1949 rssident population. In fact there may actually have been an in- 
crease, Waterfowl on ths Chippswa area ars less susceptible te factors opcrating 
apainst ths production of broods than on many other areas. Production per square 
mile may not bs as high as on other types of habitat but production per breeding 
pair is usually higher. This is dus not only to the nature of ths arta itself, 
but also to thse apscisa of ducks breeding thers. 
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