/ 199 
were present in greater numbers than avatiniy She capwos pevine ot THS8. > ue ee 
increase was observed in scaups which demonstrated gains in all survey methods save 
via cross-country aerial transects; and even by this method their representation was 
nearly the same as last year, , 4 Hoe ) 
5. From an examination of all data, and from previous year's census work, 
it appears evident that cross-country ground transects and aerial lake and marsh 
surveys offer the most reliable indicators to trends in the waterfowl population in 
Wisconsin. , j 
Waterfowl Production Survey, Spring and Summer 19 50 
Introduction 
No waterfowl production survey work has been conducted in Wisconsin by 
the Wisconsin waterfowl research project prior to 1950 that was of sufficient scope to 
give an accurate indication of actual waterfowl production, Work conducted in 1950 was 
of an exploratory nature, not fully State-wide in scope, and was relatively limited as 
compared with surveys in other States and Provinces. However, work which has been 
done is principally of a quantitative nature or is at least quantitative in approach and 
should give at least some indication of what has taken place in Wisconsin waterfowl 
production this year, particularly in southeastern Wisconsin. 
It must be pointed out, however, that results of this survey are not necessarily 
in agreement with results obtained by the Wisconsin Game Survey Project through a 
survey conducted by the State Crop Reporting Service. . This survey indicated a sub- 
stantial gain in waterfowl production in Wisconsin in 1950. Moreover, reports received 
from game managers in the northern and central portions of the State indicate equal or 
better waterfowl production than during 1949. And if net production is comparable to 
last year, this reported increase from these areas seems warranted because. much of 
the northern half of the State demonstrated an increase in numbers of breeding waterfowl 
in 1950, particularly in northeastern Wisconsin. 
Data ‘presented in this report represent the minimum known production. The 
Wisconsin waterfowl research project does not imply that data presented constitute 
actual production figures, but that these data do represent a minimum known production 
found through employment of methods of census described below. 
Methods 
Since this was a year of exploratory work on waterfowl production several 
types of coverage were employed on a limited scale in an effort to find out which types 
of census are most applicable to Wisconsin waterfowl habitat. They were: 
1. Intensive ground coverage of all water areas in approximately two town- 
ships of land in Dodge County. (Small streams were not traversed on all coverages 
so are excluded from consideration in this report. ) 
2. Re-run's of automobile transects covered during the spring waterfowl 
breeding grounds survey. _ he rib et ar Dik 
3. Aerial coverage of 21 lakes, marshes, and rivers in Burnett County 
which were surveyed identically during the spring breeding. grounds Survey. . 
_ 4. Ground checks of selected water. areas known to support fair to good 
breeding populations of waterfowl this spring. aon geet ee 
