| “WATERFOWL BREEDING GROUND SURVEY IN ALASKA - 1950 
z 4 .>° Urban C. Nelson 
Personnel taking part in the field work and preparing reports which are 
included herein: W. A. Elkins, Wildlife Management Supervisor; D. L. Spencer, 
Refuge Supervisor; Edward F. Chatelain and Robert F. Scott, Assistant Leaders 
Federal Aid; Raymond Woolford, Robert Baker, Robert F. Smith, Enforcement 
Agents; Dr. Neil W. Hosley, Leader Cooperative Research Unit; and M. W. Kelly, 
District Agent Predator Control. 
. Introduction 
This year the waterfowl surveys were conducted for the purpose of (1) 
securing quantitative. information on waterfowl abundance in certain key areas for 
comparison with populations in previous years, (2) broadening the waterfowl knowl- 
edge of a few heretofore unchecked areas, (3) banding a large enough sample of 
waterfowl in North America's greatest black brant and cackling goose nesting grounds 
(Yukon Delta) to complete the migration pattern to and from these grounds, and (4) to 
continue on the third year of banding on the Innoko River. 
Last year Scott flew transects on the Innoko River, Lower Yukon and 
Kotzebue Sound areas and banded on the Buckland River. Spencer flew the transects 
on the Yukon --Kuskokwim Delta and with Chatelain banded there and on the Innoko. 
Nelson and Woolford flew the Arctic Coast transects in June and Nelson banded there 
during July.. 
This year Scott repeated the Innoko, Lower Yukon, and Kotzebue Sound 
areas and with Baker flew additional transects on the north coast of the Seward 
Peninsula. Woolford flew the Arctic Coast transects and the Minto Lakes area, 
Spencer, Chatelain, and Kelly flew the transects on the Lower Yukon and Kuskokwim 
Deltas, 
Hosley banded on the Minto Lakes; Phillip Edwards on the Innoko; and 
Elkins, Nelson, Chatelain, and Smith on the Kashunuk and Hazen - Hooper Bay areas. 
A few birds were also banded at Juneau and Cold Bay, on the Stikine River, and 
St. Lawrence Island. Local native assistants were employed to help. 
Methods Used in Sampling, and Area Covered 
Waterfowl counts were made on aer’al transects comparable to the 1949 
surveys. Both "flight route" and random transects were used. 
The flight route transects were laid out usually between landmarks visible 
from the air or on a bearing from a single landmark. They provide a proper distri- 
bution of the sample over the entire area; distances are measured on the map. 
Random transects were flown in a "U" pattern up and down wind which permits 
determining true distances from the air speed. The random transects are flown in 
conjunction with the flight routes and can be used to fill in "holes" in the sample, to 
compensate for weather or time interference with flight routes. Often landmarks 
are not adequate, pilots or observers become fatigued or eye strain develops and 
the random transect provides a break or rest, thereby having an advantage over the 
monotonous flight route transect. 
