
INTRODUCTION 
Included in this report are the results of three major surveys to 
determine current waterfowl conditions. These are (1) a survey during the 
1954-55 shooting season to determine the kill of waterfowl and to evaluate 
the effect of regulations on kill; (2) a survey of waterfowl wintering grounds 
during January 1955 to determine the distribution and relative number of birds 
remaining after the shooting season; and (3) a breeding population and produc- 
tion survey conducted during the current spring and summer for the purpose 
of forecasting any changes which may occur in the relative size of the fall 
flight in each Flyway. These data are brought together here for the purpose 
of supplying administrators with a factual basis for setting the shooting 
regulations for the 1955-56 season, and for other management purposes. 
Inasmuch as waterfowl management within the United States is on 
the basis of four flyways, this report is organized accordingly. In doing this, 
the Flyways have arbitrarily been extended beyond the limits of the United 
States to include the breeding and wintering areas most closely associated with 
each Flyway. Thus, for winter surveys, Alaska, British Columbia, Alberta 
and western Mexico have been considered with the Pacific Flyway States; 
Saskatchewan, eastern and central Mexico with the Central Flyway; Manitoba 
and Ontario with the Mississippi Flyway; and Quebec, Newfoundland, The 
Maritimes, and the West Indies with the Atlantic Flyway. Similarly, in 
summarizing data from the breeding grounds, it has been assumed that birds 
from Alaska, Northwest Territories, British Columbia, Alberta, and 
Saskatchewan are important to the Pacific Flyway hunters; that these same 
areas excepting Alaska and British Columbia supply birds to the Central 
Flyway; that birds from northern Alberta, Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, 
Manitoba, and western Ontario move through the Mississippi Flyway; and that 
Alaska, northern Canada, and southern Canada from Saskatchewan to 
Newfoundland supply waterfowl] to the Atlantic Flyway. | 
It will be noticed that most of the breeding areas supply birds to 
two or more Flyways. Past banding efforts have indicated in a general way 
the connection between the various breeding areas and the four flyways, and 
a revised and expanded banding program in its second year of operation is 
yielding more precise information. In 1954, 11 States supplied 19 men fora 
cooperative banding program in southern Canada. This year 17 States are 
supplying 25 men. Once information from this banding program accumulates 
it should be possible to forecast relative changes in the size of the fall flight » 
in each Flyway with greater accuracy than at present. | 
1 
