Weather and Water Conditions 
The entire north country in which we worked experienced a very mild winter 
with little snow. Consequently, break-up was exceedingly early with little run-off. 
All the rivers were exceptionally low, and ice was clear of the lakes in the barrens 
adjacent to the MacKenzie by the middle of June -- almost a month early. 
The lakes north of latitude 63° were low but still contained ample water. South 
of this line, in the area west of the Precambrian, drought conditions prevailed--forest 
fires were rampant and many shallow lakes and marshes completely dried up. This 
was in marked contrast to the prairie areas to the south which experienced flood 
conditions. 
Until the middle of June exceptionally warm open weather prevailed. After that 
the normal arctic-type of weather set in with frequent storms--rain, fop and low clouds. 
None of the storms were violent enough, however, to have any noticeable effect on the 
hatch. 
Success of the Season 
As explained previously, no brood survey was made, consequently remarks 
concerning the success of the hatch must be of a general nature, 
Being an early, dry season, no flooding occurred anywhere in the region, and an 
early hatch was evident. Geese of all species appeared to have had the best hatch since 
the studies were begun in 1948. Early duck broods were observed the first part of June. 
Possibly the drought in the southwestern section of the Northwest Territories and in 
northern Alberta had some harmful effects, but in general conditions for hatching and 
brooding were ideal. 
Summary 
Considering all the areas where comparable data are available, the duck population 
decreased 47 percent from 1952. The population index for 1952 was 4,501,940 as 
compared with 2,400, 780 for 1953. Of the 1953 total, 59 percent was composed of 
species commonly shot for sport. Broken down by species the changes are as follows: 
Increases, mallard - 15 percent; gadwall - 48 percent; blue-winged teal ~ 43 percent; 
green-winged teal 24 percent; redhead - 11 percent; canvasback - 84 percent; and 
ruddy duck - 179 percent. Decreases, pintail - 37 percent; baldpate - 8 percent; 
shoveler - 27 percent; scaup - 52 percent; goldeneye - 56 percent; bufflehead - 56 
percent; scoter - 61 percent; old squaw - 24 percent; merganser - 18 percent; and 
king eider - 36 percent, It should be pointed out that we are measuring gadwall, 
blue-winged teal, redhead, canvasback, and ruddy ducks on the edge of their range, 
so the figures obtained, here are not significant for these species, Transect data on 
geese indicate a decrease of 58 percent in Canada geese, 28 percent in white-fronts, 
with no change in swans. Colonial nesting black brant and snow geese were down 
58 percent and 9 percent, respectively. 
