103 
AERIAL WATERFOWL BREEDING GROUND SURVEYS IN NORTHERN 
SASKATCHEWAN AND WESTERN ONTARIO - 1953 
Edward G. Wellein and Wesley Newcomb 
Introduction 
This report covers aerial surveys of waterfowl populations in Stratum C in 
western Ontario and Strata C and E in northern Saskatchewan, The objective of the 
survey was to obtain quantitative information on waterfowl breeding populations in 
these areas for comparison with the waterfowl breeding season of 1952. The habitat 
involved in this report, in general, has a low breeding population density when 
compared with that of the prairie pothole country. The area involved, however, is 
large and in spite of the low density of breeding waterfow], contributes materially 
to the total Continental waterfowl population. It is very probable that during a 
wide-spread drought in the prairies this area "takes up the slack", so to speak, and 
becomes far more important in the production of waterfowl. For these reasons, it 
is considered desirable to obtain breeding population density data in this area. 
The writers began the surveys in Ontario in the second week of May and continued 
the investigations in northwestern Saskatchewan during the latter half of that month. 
The surveys were made in a Grumman Goose Aircraft owned by the U. S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service. 
Methods Used and Areas Covered 
The several strata were sampled by using standard 1/4-mile wide aerial 
transects. Through necessity, the transects were flown from one refueling point to 
another. The survey was conducted north to the ice line, beyond which water areas 
were still ice covered, Waterfowl were recorded by species and separated, when 
possible, into pairs and lone drakes. Brood surveys were not conducted in the 
strata involved herein because time would not permit both brood surveys and 
exploratory work. It is felt that the exploratory work is the more important, the 
results of which form the basis of a separate report. 
The location of the transects flown along with square miles covered, and the 
size of the strata sampled, are shown in Table I. 
Weather and Water Conditions 
The phenology this spring was considerably retarded over that of 1952, which 
was an unusually early season. The last week of May this year found Reindeer Lake 
and Lake Athabaska still completely ice covered, whereas, they were almost ice 
free at this time in 1952. During the first half of May the ice line in Ontario extended 
much further south than it had in previous years, An unseasonable blizzard on May 10 
and 11, which caught many hens on nests, extended over most of the area treated in 
this report, but in spite of this, waterfowl migration appeared to be on schedule. 
Water conditions in these strata do not vary markedly from year to year. There 
is always an abundance of water, and with the exception of those water areas affected 
by beaver dams, the water levels are remarkably stable, 
