126 
WATERFOWL BREEDING GROUND SURVEY IN IDAHO, 1950 
Robert L. Salter 
Idaho has long been considered an important contributor to the number of 
waterfowl produced within the United States. Until recently, however, no concerted 
effort has been made to evaluate the waterfowl breeding in Idaho on a state-wide 
basis. Previous-work has been limited to casual observations and reports made by 
local Gonservation Officers, or restricted surveys on one or two areas taken by 
persons working primarily outside the State. 
In an attempt to learn something more concrete about Idaho's waterfowl 
production, two investigations have been initiated. For the past two years an 
intensive research project has been carried out by graduate assistants of the Idaho 
Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit. This study was designed to determine the 
waterfowl production on Gray's Lake in southeastern Idaho. The results are presented 
elsewhere in this report by Bizeau and Steel. Also, this summer an attempt was made 
by the author to locate and become familiar with the important breeding areas of the 
State. All those areas believed to be the most important were visited at least once. 
Due to time, personnel, and equipment limitations it was not possible to conduct 
standardized transects on any great number of the areas. The familiarity gained, 
however, will be valuable when planning for future work. Car, boat, foot, and 
airplane travel was utilized to cover the areas. It was discovered that the airplane 
was feasible in certain areas only when used to count geese. Some of the best areas 
lie at 5-6 thousand feet altitude, and in order to maintain a safety factor it was 
necessary to fly the plane too high to enable the observer to census ducks accurately 
in the dense, emergent vegetation common in most localities. 
Weather and Water 
In most areas the water supply was adequate throughout the nesting and 
brooding season. An above-normal snow pack melted quite slowly and most streams 
maintained their flow, while reservoirs had a good supply throughout the season. The 
northern portion of the State experienced some serious spring floods, but this is 
almost a yearly occurrence, Summer wind, rain, and hail storms were no more 
serious or widespread than usual. 
Goose Nesting Study 
Since most of the work done was of a first year and exploratory nature, itis 
not felt that it warrants inclusion here until future work permits comparisons to be 
drawn. It was possible, however, to gather comparable goose nesting data from 
three areas of the State. Two of the areas were on islands in the Snake River and one 
on islands in Blackfoot Reservoir in Caribou County. Results are shown in Table l. 
The Homedale area consists of 26 miles of river upstream from Homedale in 
Owyhee County. All suitable islands were searched for nests. Nest hunting was done 
on April 18. G. Hortin Jensen, Flyway Biologist, and F. Sheldon Dart, Refuge 
Manager, Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge, assisted in the search. Dart assisted 
in the re-check taken on May 4. Peak of hatch on this area was estimated to be the 
week of April 23-29. 
The Glenns Ferry area consists of approximately 25 miles of river down- 
stream from Glenns Ferry in Elmore county. All suitable islands were searched for 
nests by the above crew on April 19. Assistance in the re-check on May 5 was given 
by Alvard Kiler, Assistant Bird Biologist, Idaho Fish and Game Department. The 
