139 
WATERFOWL BREEDING GROUND SURVEY IN CALIFORNIA, 1953 
A. W. Miller, A. E. Naylor and Frank M. Kozlik* 
Introduction 
During the spring and early summer of 1953, the waterfowl breeding ground 
survey was conducted in essentially the same manner as in previous years through- 
out the principal waterfowl habitat of the State. By way of review it should be noted 
that under exiSting conditions the primary waterfowl production areas in California 
are in the northeast or "Great Basin" corner of the State, and in the Sacramento 
Valley. 
The northeastern part of the State, including the Klamath Basin, contains 
numerous natural marshes and artificial water impoundments. The scattered 
distribution of these water areas with this great basin-type region makes it 
impractical to fly aerial transects. Instead, this entire area was given complete 
aerial coverage of all water and marsh areas to determine the total number of 
breeding waterfowl. To obtain further information on waterfowl production in this 
part of the State, a nesting study was conducted at Honey Lake Refuge. 
The Sacramento Valley is devoted to intensive agriculture with only a remnant 
of the once vast marshlands remaining. These remaining marsh and overflow lands 
are largely in private ownership and are controlled primarily by private duck clubs. 
Coupled with these remnants of marshland, the culture of rice as a commercial crop 
. is responsible for a large portion of the waterfowl raised in this valley. From late 
April through the middle of September, over 290,000 acres of shallow stabilized 
water in the form of contoured rice fields are available to nesting ducks. Before 
the rice grows too high, this area can be ideally covered by aerial transect flights, 
Later in the season, however, brood counting and fall population counts are difficult 
to accomplish due to the dense cover growth and the inaccessible nature of these 
areas on foot. In contrast to northeastern California where a variety of waterfowl 
species nest, the primary species meeting in the Sacramento Valley is the mallard. 
The cernainder of the waterfowl produced in California are raised in scattered 
sections of agricultural and marsh habitat including tidal saltmarshes, stream 
channels, and artificial impoundments. These areas include the Suisun marsh, 
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the Grasslands of the San Joaquin Valley and 
the North Bay. In many cases, production is high on these areas, but is limited in 
significance by the relatively small size of the area and the amount of water. Nesting 
surveys on these areas were carried on at Suisun marsh and in the Grasslands, 
=r ee ee wee eK eee ee ee ee eee eee 
* Other personnel of the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Project California 30-R, 
namely William Anderson, Philip H. Arend, Burton D. Collins and Eldridge Hunt 
cooperated in this study. Credit is also due Paul E. Steel and Thomas Horn of the 
Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge for the gathering of the data on that area. 
